Marcella Jones Free (September 17, 1920 – November 23, 2007) was respected as one of the advertising industry's leading copywriters. She was a pioneering woman in the business and was the first female Creative Director at N. W. Ayer in Philadelphia in the 1940s. With her former husband, F. William Free, she created a number of famous and memorable campaigns for companies such as

Nescafé Nescafé is a brand of coffee made by Nestlé. It comes in many different forms. The name is a portmanteau of the words "Nestlé" and "café". Nestlé first introduced their flagship coffee brand in Switzerland on 1 April 1938. History Nestl� ...

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

, Purina, National Airlines,

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...

and

Gillette Gillette is an American brand of safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, owned by the multi-national corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G). Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was owned by The Gil ...

, among others. One of her more memorable campaigns was a commercial for

Nair The Nair , also known as Nayar, are a group of Indian Hindu castes, described by anthropologist Kathleen Gough as "not a unitary group but a named category of castes". The Nair include several castes and many subdivisions, not all of whom histor ...

, featuring girls singing "Who wears short shorts? We wear short shorts! If you dare wear short shorts, Nair for short shorts." This song was based on the hit 1958 hit "

Short Shorts "Short Shorts" is a song written and performed by Tom Austin, Bill Crandell, Bill Dalton, Russ Viers, and Bob Gaudio, members of The Royal Teens. It reached #2 on the U.S. R&B chart and #3 on the U.S. pop chart in 1958. The group originally rele ...

" by

The Royal Teens The Royal Teens were an American rock and roll band that formed in New Jersey in 1956 and originally consisted of Bob Gaudio on piano, Tom Austin on drums, Billy Dalton on guitar, and Billy Crandall on saxophone. The group is best known for its ...

. She was a founding partner of the agency Avrett Free Ginsberg. She retired to her house in

Water Mill, New York Water Mill is a hamlet and a census-designated place (CDP) within the Town of Southampton on Long Island in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population of the CDP was 1,559 at the 2010 census. Its ZIP Code is 11976. As of 2010, Wate ...

, and died in Rye in 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Free, Marcella 1920 births 2007 deaths American writers