70’s advert for Dulux Paints

Dulux is an internationally available brand of paint. It is produced by AkzoNobel (formerly Imperial Chemical Industries). The brand name Dulux has been used by both ICI and DuPont since 1931 and was one of the first alkyd-based paints.

History

In the early days of its existence, decorators and their suppliers were the main customers for Dulux, with Say Dulux to your decorator used as an advertising slogan in the 1950s. By 1953, Dulux was available in the retail market and ten years later the famous Old English Sheepdog was used in advertisements, to the point where “Dulux dog” has become a common nickname for the breed. The name Dulux id derived from the words DuPont and Luxury.

Dulux Dog

The Old English Sheepdog is the brand mascot for Dulux paint. The dog was first introduced in advertising campaigns in the 1960s. Since then they have been a constant and highly popular feature of Dulux television and print adverts wherever the paint is sold. So much so, that many people in those markets refer to the breed as a ‘Dulux dog’ rather than a Sheepdog.

Over the years, different dogs have appeared in the adverts. However, they all look very similar, partially as a result of most of them being selected from a closely related line of pedigree dogs. The first Dulux dog was Shepton Dash, who held the role for eight years. His successor, Fernville Lord Digby, was the most famous Dulux dog and also made his owner, Cynthia Harrison, famous. When filming advertisements, Digby was treated like a star, being driven to the studio in a chauffeur driven car. Barbara Woodhouse was employed to train Digby and his three stunt doubles, who were used whenever specific tricks or actions needed to be filmed.

Gambit – another Dulux dog, was used in a photographic shoot in 1980 for Philips Video and its new generation of video recorders. By the time the shoot was finished there was enough hair to fill a mattress – the dog was constantly groomed during the shoot.

Apart from Dash, all the Dulux dogs have been breed champions, and five of them have won ‘Best of Show’ prizes.