Scandalous!

That's what a lot of people in Miami thought of this Miami Icon, The Coppertone Girl...Back in the Day! In the early 50's the Coppertone Company was using a logo depicting the profile of an Indian Chief with the slogan "Don't Be A Paleface!". Native Americans understandably took offense so the suntan lotion company scrambled to come up with a new logo. Supposedly, this design was inspired by Deborah Martin, the granddaughter of an early Coppertone owner. When his wife noticed that her granddaughter's training pants had slid down and exposed her bottom, the very astute woman suggested to her husband that such an image might be more appealing than sexy girls. The original sign was designed and made in 1958. It was moved several times and eventually was donated to the people of Miami. Dade Heritage Trust warehoused the sign until it was donated to MiMO (MiamiModern) Biscayne Association in 2009, who oversaw the restoration of the Coppertone Girl. She was finally returned to her old neighborhood, along with her trickster dog and is now on the side of a building at 7300 Biscayne Boulevard. The sign is 33feet (10m) high by 29feet (8.8m) wide and the little girl stands 27feet 1inc (8.26m) high and her dog is 27feet 10inches (8.48m) long. The girl's head rises 4feet (1.2m) above the roof line of the building. To give you an idea of scale...those birds  on the lower portion of the sign are pigeons!  Much of the above information I gleaned from Wikipedia the People's Encyclopedia. If you don't donate to them, perhaps you should consider it! And on a personal note...the Coppertone Girl was one of the 'must see' sights in Miami that my father would take visitors to see. So I guess I came to know her rather well!