|
|
Home Page | Message Boards | News | Archive | Ask Cecil | Books | Buy Stuff | Cecil Who? ]
Dear Cecil:
There's a question that's been
burning in the unscrubbed corners of my mind for a long time. We
are told that Ivory Soap is "99 and 44/100% pure." What's in the
other 56/100% (or if 0.56% if you prefer)? --Peter Holland,
Chicago
Dear Peter:
You're not the first to wonder. Actually it
consists of "foreign and unnecessary substances," by which I
suppose they mean, for example, Dudley Moore. It all started in
1881 when Harley Procter, son of Procter & Gamble co-founder
William Procter and a legendary soap salesman in his own right,
decided he needed a new angle to hawk Ivory soap. Then as now
people were impressed by scientific testimonials, and Harley
decided if he could come up with a lab test showing Ivory was
"purer" than other soaps, he'd win sales.
Trouble was, there
wasn't a standard for purity in soap, so Harley hired an
independent scientific consultant in New York to concoct one. The
consultant concluded that a 100% pure soap would consist of nothing
but fatty acids and alkali, the somewhat yukky sounding substances
that nonetheless are the chief ingredients of most soap.
That
definition having been arrived at, Harley sent out some Ivory Soap
for analysis and compared it with earlier analyses he'd had done of
castile soap, regarded at the time as the best soap available. He
was gratified to discover that by his consultant's definition,
Ivory soap was purer than the castile soaps. The impurities
consisted of uncombined alkali, 0.11%; carbonates, 0.28%; and
mineral matter, 0.17%. Total: 0.56%. Thinking that "99 and 44/100%
pure" had just the right touch of technical authenticity to appeal
to the great unwashed, so to speak, Harley began sticking the
phrase in Ivory advertisements, and another classic marketing
slogan was born.
--CECIL ADAMS
The Straight Dope / Questions or
comments for Cecil Adams to: cecil@chicagoreader.com
Comments regarding this website to: webmaster@straightdope.com
Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 Chicago Reader, Inc. All rights reserved.
No material contained in this site may be republished or reposted without express written
permission.
The Straight Dope is a registered trademark of Chicago
Reader, Inc.