Look at my purses! Faberge Farrah Fawcett

High Contrast colors with the use of purple and green, two complementary colors which plays off the orange yellow hair with the blue jeans, another two complementary colors. The editors even dogged the photo—which created the wispy circles—and blurred any sense of texture behind Fawcett to play on that color effect. Colors are completely saturated and mostly in light hues. The self referentiality of the bottle compared right next to the real thing suggests that when you buy this bottle, you buy Farrah.  Another thing accomplished by the dodging was creating a flat image with medium-shot that solely relies on Fawcett’s celebrity, hair, outfit, and pussy. I would be less crass, but this photo really speaks for itself.  

Unfortunately, Fawcett seems to know what this pose is doing and there is a sense of unease in her face. Pre #MeToo, she was probably forced to play along with the male photographer to keep the ad money and stay relevant. In no way was this a choice of the model, who would have no doubt been told to “keep an aspirin between her knees”. The Purse on her neck almost is a visual pun about her purse, but notice, her pocket is closed, but legs open. It suggests not only is this product a frugal choice, but a sexy one for the horny but modest housewife.  

The first thing we see about the text in this ad is the bold proclamation that this is a “new way” or new shampoo—as if anything in shampoo can be revolutionary. It continues, “vitamins, minerals, protein and herbs” but won’t specify which ones, because it obviously doesn’t matter. Will women even care? Nah, just make it sound like science and their little female brains will assume it’s the real deal—redirect, focus on Farrah and her spread eagle. The description of “garden herbs” later also paints a picture of the white suburbs, and lush kitchen gardens in the country, when we all know they mean mint (groundbreaking). “As gentle as the ones in fine complexion soaps—so you can shampoo as often as you shower” is basically, soft enough for white people hair so you can be clean and not ‘dirty’. This is a very clear race play by the advertisers to extend the white exclusivity/superiority complex and makes an implied, yet overtly stated, statement that this is for white feathery and light hair, no one else as if “soft cleansers” or everyday use wasn’t a tip off. Black consumers (or any woman of the time) would probably not think of shampooing daily, so this is redundant and solely to boast the overt whiteness of the product, white-picket-fence included. Be clean and wash every day so you can be separate in your whiteness and our cleaning mythology. Don’t worry about herbs, and keratin, focus on Farrah, her whiteness and her hair, it can happen to yours! The stroke-weight at the bottom of the ad creates a simple proclamation that sprawls across the page with alliterative consonance and assonance of Faberge-Farrah-Fawcett (fa-fa-fa). 

All of this combines to sell an image of exclusivity, wealth, whiteness, and sex--the true American values. These rhetorical devices combine to reinforce an image of whiteness that likely users would have had about themselves. They were obviously insecure about their status and race and needed Farrah to help prop up their white 70s identity white America insisted upon portraying.This is all about using shock value within white 'subversive' culture (aka being slutty) to add an edge to whiteness that was desperately needed as America started fracturing on socio-economic and racial lines once again. This shampoo aims to make your hair strong enough to hold your incoherent whiteness together, and simultaneously diss women of color. Look! Vagina!!!