Coppertone is the brand name for an American sunscreen. Coppertone uses a variety of branding, including the Coppertone girl logo and a distinctive fragrance.

Product line

The original product dates to 1944, when pharmacist Benjamin Green invented a lotion to darken tans. The product line has been expanded to include many skin care products, predominantly sunscreens. Coppertone has become the leading sun care brand in the United States, with annual $9 billion in global sales.

Branding

Coppertone name

The name Coppertone originated from its marketing of suntan lotion, as opposed to sunscreen.

Coppertone girl

In the time when the product was a suntan lotion, the company introduced the character the Coppertone girl, also known as Little Miss Coppertone. In the advertisement, a young blond girl in pigtails stares in surprise as a cocker spaniel puppy tugs at her swimsuit, revealing her tan line.

Logo history

The original Coppertone logo was the profile of an aboriginal chief. In 1953, Tally Embry Advertising in Florida was hired, and their ad men created the concept of the little girl and the pup. An artist named Joyce Ballantyne Brand re-drew the little girl in 1959 when the original artwork was destroyed in a fire. She was then working for Grant Advertising in New York.

Coppertone sign

A series of mechanical billboards were constructed across the United States, whereon the motorized dog and swimsuit bottoms rocked up and down perpetually. Although most of them are long since gone or have stopped moving, one such billboard of the then Coppertone Girl still stands in Miami Beach — dog, pigtails, swimsuit, bottom, and all.

Live models

When Joyce Ballantyne Brand redrew the logo in 1959, she purportedly used her daughter, Cheri, as her model, and her drawing closely resembled the original artwork.

Fragrances

Many Coppertone products share a distinctive fragrance. Chandler Burr described it as "arguably the single greatest work of scent branding ever." A researcher on human memory used it as an example of an odor that evokes autobiographical memories. Besides for the classic fragrance, the Coppertone product line has expanded to include other scents. An early slogan for Coppertone was, "Tan, don't burn".

Ownership

Competitors

Circa 2018, competing brands included Neutrogena and Banana Boat.