Head & Shoulders UK Adverts: The Celebrities Behind the Campaigns

This Head & Shoulders TV commercial features Joe Hart, promoting 'itchy scalp care shampoo with Eucalyptus extract' and 'two in one with extra conditioning ingredients'.

For many UK television viewers in the mid-2010s, the face of Head & Shoulders was former England and Manchester City goalkeeper, Joe Hart. However, the brand has a long history of using celebrity ambassadors, with television presenter Claudia Winkleman being a more recent prominent face for the haircare brand in the UK.

This article examines the timeline of Head & Shoulders’ celebrity partnerships in the UK, focusing on its most recognisable figures and the marketing strategies behind their campaigns.

Claudia Winkleman: A Modern Ambassador

Since 2016, presenter Claudia Winkleman, known for co-hosting ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, has been a key ambassador for Head & Shoulders in the UK. Her partnership was seen as a move to position the anti-dandruff shampoo as a mainstream beauty product rather than a purely medicated one. In interviews, Winkleman noted her initial surprise at being approached, stating, “in my mind Head & Shoulders wasn’t beauty, it was a medicated product… But after using it I was completely obsessed”.

The campaigns featuring Winkleman often highlight her signature glossy hair and fringe, aiming to appeal to a female audience and emphasise the product’s cosmetic benefits, such as shine and softness, alongside its anti-dandruff properties.

The Joe Hart Era: Football and Flake-Free Confidence

Before Winkleman, Joe Hart was the brand’s most high-profile UK ambassador. His partnership began around 2013, a period when he was at the peak of his career with both Manchester City and the England national team. The adverts played on his role as a goalkeeper, with one memorable commercial showing him diving to the ground, not from injury, but from an itchy scalp, before finding relief with the shampoo.

The campaigns were often timed to coincide with major football tournaments. Ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, Head & Shoulders launched an innovative campaign with Hart that utilised augmented reality (AR). By using the Blippar app to scan Hart’s face in newspaper adverts, consumers could unlock a mobile football game and other interactive content. This was an early example of a major brand using AR in its UK advertising, highlighting a strategy focused on engagement beyond traditional television spots.

Hart’s on-screen presence was often described as cheerful but slightly awkward, and the adverts became well-known enough to inspire chants from football fans. However, the association also drew criticism when his on-pitch performance levels were perceived to have dipped.

Locating the Joe Hart Adverts Today

Many of the classic Joe Hart commercials can still be found on YouTube. One 20-second spot, uploaded to a channel named “The Telly Recording Archive” in April 2024, has garnered over 3,500 views as of May 2026. The channel itself has approximately 8,890 subscribers. Searches for his 2013 and 2014 campaign materials will yield several results, preserving a notable chapter in UK advertising history.

A Broader History of Celebrity Endorsements

Head & Shoulders, a Procter & Gamble brand first launched in 1961, has a global strategy of using high-profile personalities to endorse its products. While Hart and Winkleman are the most prominent recent examples in the UK, other notable figures have been involved over the years.

• International Stars: Globally, the brand has partnered with figures like American actress Sofía Vergara and NFL player Odell Beckham Jr.
• Early UK Adverts: Veteran Scottish actress Lindsay Duncan appeared in a UK commercial for the brand early in her career in the 1970s.

This long-standing strategy of using celebrity ambassadors, from sports stars to television presenters, allows the brand to tailor its message to different demographics and markets. In the UK, the shift from a top male footballer to a popular female television host reflects a deliberate evolution in marketing, aiming to broaden the product’s appeal from a functional anti-dandruff solution to a staple of everyday beauty and haircare regimes.

His acting is cheesier than an extra large Quattro Formaggio pizza in his latest Head & Shoulders ad.

Tags: head-and-shouldersjoe-hartadvertisingtv-commercials2014-world-cup