jckybriefs4me: “All of the Jockey ads were ahead of their time – groundbreaking –
jckybriefs4me: “All of the Jockey ads were ahead of their time – groundbreaking – even. Bill Herrmann, the company’s vice president of sales, calculated that women made 75 percent of men’s underwear purchases. So in an attempt to appeal to the majority of the underwear-buying public without alienating the underwear-wearing public, he devised a plan to target each group at a personal and emotional level. When Jockey decided to go with a single face for the campaign, Herrmann set out to find the athlete who he thought men found most relatable and women found easiest on the eyes. They narrowed the field of candidates down to two: me and Steve Garvey of the Dodgers. They took us around to shopping malls and counted the number of people who showed up. And they conducted popularity tests to see who scored highest. Finally, they had us both do a photo shoot with famed photographer Harold Krieger at his New York studio. A lot of people over the years have asked me what it was like being a sex symbol. I start by telling them that without Harold Krieger, I might not have reached that status. When I saw the photos he took, I hardly recognized myself. That’s not me being self-deprecating. It’s a true statement about the magic of lighting and studio photography.” - Jim Palmer on how he became the iconic face of Jockey -- source link