99 and 44/100% pure

[Alison Murie]

Jim Landau writes:
If I may be obnoxious, let me point out the fundamental flaw in this
thread:  the writers have all made the ASSUMPTION that the slogan "99 and
44/100% pure" was concocted out of thin air in typical Madison Avenue
style.  This is strange behavior from people who go to great lengths to
debunk etymythologies.   The story I heard many years ago goes as follows
(from the Proctor and Gamble website  ...........

I wasn't attempting to provide a defensible etymology for this advertising
slogan, just passing on common scuttlebutt.  OTOH I don't see that it makes
more sense to accept the tales a corp tells about itself as any more
reliable than any other form of advertising.  While no aficionado of
websites,  I'd guess that they are fertile soil for all kinds of romances
in the interests of self-promotion.
AM

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