[Ads-l] "a happier you"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Here is a slightly earlier instance of the phrase used in an
advertisement for a beauty salon.

Date: April 26, 1936
Newspaper: The Park City Daily News
Newspaper Location: Bowling Green, Kentucky
Article: (Advertisement for Irene Beauty Shoppe)
Quote Page 5, Column 1
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
WE ARE IN THE . . . . .
Cinderella Business
... To Make A Happier You!

A permanent wave is the foundation and solution of your
hair problem! And a good permanent is a woman's most
satisfactory and helpful investment.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Sun, Jun 21, 2026 at 9:15 AM Jonathan Lighter
<00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> I can't tell you when I (or you) first encountered this ad cliche.
> I've just noticed it again on the label of a soft drink.
> Surely Chaucer once uttered this so-simple, so pleasant a phrase.  ( I
> believe it is "coded female." We men don't want to be happy.)
>
> Hmm. Nothing in EEBO....
>
> 1937 _Atlanta Journal_ (June 27)  6-C [GenealogyBank]: And a
> hair-dresser...arranges your hair so that you become a new you - a
> lovelier you - a happier you.
>
> 1940 _Houston Chronicle_ (Feb. 23) 3 [Ibid.]: Racing ahead of the
> first crocuses and the cheery robins are Sears fresh new fashions...a
> reason for a happier YOU! Pick A Flower Hat!
>
> GenealogyBank offers 1,586 additional exx.
>
> JL
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org