Glade Shake n' Vac is a powdered

carpet A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of Pile (textile), pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fiber, synthetic fibres such as polyprop ...

freshener Air fresheners are products designed to reduce unwanted odors in indoor spaces, to introduce pleasant fragrances, or both. They typically emit fragrance to mask odors but may use other methods of action such as absorbing, bonding to, or chemically ...

. The powder is shaken onto the carpet before vacuuming. It is marketed and sold in the United Kingdom by S. C. Johnson & Son. First sold in 1979, the product became well known because of its popular "Dancing Woman"

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

during the 1980s, and the television advert was voted one of the most popular in Britain.

Advertising

First going on air in the early 1980s, the advertisement featured the English actress

Jenny Logan Jenny Logan (born 1942) is an English actress, trained dancer and singer. Though she played WPC Sally Reed in the television series ''Dixon of Dock Green'' between 1968 and 1969, she is most familiar from her appearances in the TV commercial fo ...

, dancing about in a typical British

living room In Western architecture, a living room, also called a lounge room (Australian English), lounge (British English), sitting room (British English), or drawing room, is a room for relaxing and socializing in a Dwelling, residential house or apa ...

high heels High-heeled shoes, also known as high heels (colloquially shortened to heels), are a type of shoe with an upward-angled sole. The heel in such shoes is raised above the ball of the foot. High heels cause the legs to appear longer, make the we ...

, shaking the powder onto a carpet and vacuuming it up, while appearing to sing a musical

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

. The main lyric is "do the Shake n' Vac, and put the freshness back". The commercial was produced by Benton and Bowles advertising agency, written and art directed by Peter West and Guy Winston and produced by Simon Wells. The director was Bob Mahoney. The song was written by English actress/songwriter/comedienne

Kate Robbins Kate Elizabeth Robbins (born 21 August 1958) is an English actress, singer, and songwriter. She came to prominence in the early 1980s when she scored a top ten single on the UK Official Charts with "More Than in Love", while she was appearing i ...

with music by Jonathan Hodge. Although the Shake n' Vac product was on sale in shops in 1979, ITV industrial action of 1979 resulted in the television advert being delayed until 1980. The jingle was in a 1950s rock and roll retro style, a style very popular in the UK in the 1970s and 1980s. In 2000, the advertisement polled 18th place in the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

''The 100 Greatest TV Adverts'' programme, and an

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

list in 2005.

References

{{reflist Advertising campaigns American television commercials 1980s television commercials Cleaning products S. C. Johnson & Son brands Products introduced in 1980