[Ads-l] Ivory Soap

[paul johnson]

I'm pretty sure it was an adult Miss Chambers on the box of Ivory.


On 9/3/2017 6:49 AM, Benjamin M Brainard wrote:
> Let’s not forget the irony (vis a vis pure) that Marilyn Chambers, of Behind the Green Door fame, was the baby on the Ivory Snow box.
>
> Benjamin Brainard VMD, Dipl ACVAA, ACVECC
> Edward H Gunst Professor of Small Animal Critical Care
> College of Veterinary Medicine
> University of Georgia
> 706-542-9383 (v)
> 706-357-0109 (f)
>
> On 9/3/17, 7:34 AM, "American Dialect Society on behalf of James A. Landau" <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU on behalf of JJJRLandau at NETSCAPE.COM> wrote:
>
>      
>      
>      --- Begin forwarded message:
>      
>      From: Dave Feldman <feldman at imponderables.com>
>      To: JJJRLandau at netscape.com
>      Subject: Ivory Soap
>      Date: Sun, 3 Sep 2017 01:02:01 -0400
>      
>      Hi Jim,
>      
>      A friend of mine, who is on the ADS listserv contacted me about the age-old
>      Ivory Soap Imponderables, and I attempted to answer directly to the
>      Listserv but my email was rejected.  Might you be willing to post this to
>      the list, just in case the OP is sleepless without the answer?  Thanks!
>      
>      --
>      Dave Feldman
>      
>      ******************************
>      
>       If Ivory Soap is 99.44% pure, what's the rest?
>      >
>      > The answer can be found in David Feldman _Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise_.
>      Unformatunately I do not have a copy available at this time.
>      >
>      > - Jim Landau
>      
>      I seem to have a copy floating around here:
>      
>              Procter & Gamble, in the late nineteenth century, sold many
>      products made of fats, such as candles and lard oil, as well as soap.
>      Ivory Soap was originally marketed as a laundry soap, but the company was
>      smart enough to realize its product’s potential as a cosmetic soap.  The
>      only problem was that most consumers were buying castile soaps (hard soaps
>      made out of olive oil and sodium hydroxide) and considered laundry soap
>      inappropriate for their personal grooming.
>              In order to convince consumers that its soap was wholesome, Procter
>      & Gamble employed an independent scientific consultant in New York City to
>      determine exactly what a pure soap was.  The answer:  a pure soap should
>      consist of nothing but fatty acids and alkali; anything else was foreign
>      and superfluous.
>              Samples of Ivory Soap were sent to the same chemist for analysts.
>      Much to the manufacturer’s surprise, Ivory, by the consultant’s definition,
>      was “purer” than the competing castile soaps — containing only 0.56 percent
>      “impurities.”  The impurities, then and now, were rather innocent:
>      
>                              Uncombined alkali:  0.11 percent
>                              Carbonates:  0.28 percent
>                              Mineral matter: 0.17 percent
>      
>      
>              The first Ivory advertisement was placed in a religious weekly, The
>      Independent, on December 21, 1881.  Procter & Gamble decided to emphasize
>      the positive, and right away hammered at their product’s advantages.  Ivory
>      Soap was trumpeted as “99 and 44/100 percent pure,” a rare advertising
>      slogan in that it has lasted longer than a century.
>      ***************
>              I wrote this 30 years go, but I’m guessing the info is still
>      accurate, as this is a rare Imponderables entry that I’ve gotten no
>      complaints about!  Hope this helps.
>      
>      Dave Feldman
>      
>      
>      
>      
>      _____________________________________________________________
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>      
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>      
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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-- 
I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was 
younger.

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