Blondes vs. Brunettes

Do blondes have more fun? Are brunettes really smarter?
One hair products company has taken a new approach to differentiating themselves from the competition. Sunsilk has created a new image with the introduction of commercials and a fancy interactive website pitting blondes against brunettes, fighting it out to see which color is better (sorry redheads). The campaign basically pokes fun at the common stereotypes of each hair color; blondes being dumb party animals who can't read and brunettes being the smarter, intellectual types.

Here’s my favorite commercial:

While some women have found this approach offensive, the general consensus in my group of blonde and brunette friends is that the commercials are funny and entertaining as well as memorable.
On the website, each hair color has its own “lounge” that leads to a place to download wallpapers, IM icons and MySpace enhancers, to hear jokes about the opposite hair color and to view secret experiments with polls to earn points for your team. You can also recruit a blonde or brunette to earn more points for your team. So far, the brunettes are winning with over 383,000 points compared to the over 282,000 points for the blondes. I personally think the blondes are all out having more fun rather than poking around the site, but I know, I’m biased.
On the serious side, I think Sunsilk has been successful in creating a fresh concept that is attracting attention and creating buzz. The Color Showdown website is a great example of an interactive marketing site that keeps people coming back through the incentives of adding points to the individuals respective hair color team. But will it help sell products and put Sunsilk in the top of the consumer’s mind? I guess it depends on who wins this showdown in the end.
The Brunette Commercial

The Blonde Commercial