Claude C. Hopkins was an influential American advertiser who ran several massive, successful marketing campaigns in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most notably, he made tooth-brushing into a national habit by promising that the toothpaste Pepsodent would remove the film from people’s teeth. Hopkins also developed key rules for advertising—like finding clear cues and rewards to get consumers to use products. However, Duhigg argues that Hopkins overlooked the importance of cravings (which depend on connecting the cue to the reward, so that people actively seek out a new habit).
Claude C. Hopkins Quotes in The Power of Habit
The The Power of Habit quotes below are all either spoken by Claude C. Hopkins or refer to Claude C. Hopkins . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2
Quotes
Dabbing a bit of sunscreen on your face each morning significantly lowers the odds of skin cancer. Yet, while everyone brushes their teeth, fewer than 10 percent of Americans apply sunscreen each day. Why? Because there’s no craving that has made sunscreen into a daily habit. Some companies are trying to fix that by giving sunscreens a tingling sensation or something that lets people know they’ve applied it to their skin. They’re hoping it will cue an expectation the same way the craving for a tingling mouth reminds us to brush our teeth.
Related Characters:Charles Duhigg (speaker), Claude C. Hopkins
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
59
Explanation and Analysis:
In his chapter on cravings, Duhigg explains how the advertising executive Claude C. Hopkins turned toothbrushing into a national habit. Hopkins marketed toothpaste as the routine that would eliminate the dirty film that accumulates on people’s teeth (cue) and leave them with a clean, beautiful smile instead (reward). Even more importantly, Duhigg argues, Hopkins turned toothbrushing into a craving by ensuring that his product, Pepsodent, contained chemicals that gave people a cool, fresh feeling after they brushed their teeth. Duhigg contrasts Hopkins’s success in spreading toothbrushing with marketers’ failure to make other healthy decisions—like applying sunscreen—into consistent habits. As he Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo
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Claude C. Hopkins Character Timeline in The Power of Habit
The timeline below shows where the character Claude C. Hopkins appears in The Power of Habit. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2: The Craving Brain: How to Create New Habits
...of a minty new toothpaste called “Pepsodent” called up the wealthy advertising executive Claude C. Hopkins to ask for help designing a marketing campaign. Hopkins was famous for his outlandish claims...
(full context)
Hopkins’s secret to selling Pepsodent was creating a craving. He always looked for a “trigger” that...
(full context)
...Pepsodent was selling all around the world, and most Americans were regularly brushing their teeth. Hopkins’s ad campaign succeeded because he followed two basic rules: he found a straightforward, basic cue...
(full context)
...wasn’t enough—ads also needed to create cravings. This is the third element that Claude C. Hopkins forgot about.
(full context)
Despite his wild popularity, Claude C. Hopkins never identified the value of cravings. But this was the real reason he sold so...
(full context)