[Ads-l] Ivory Soap

[Dave Wilton]

She was an adult and only appeared on the box for about three years before they changed the model, shortly after "Behind the Green Door" premiered.

Here's a link to a UPI photo of Chambers holding up an Ivory Snow box. UPI, evidently, doesn't give dates for things in their archive, but based on the caption, the photo must be from c.1973, and her image on the box must have run from c.1970-73.

https://www.upi.com/News_Photos/view/upi/a2aacadae7ef7703c7dfbbca0ca015fe/Pornographic-film-star-Marilyn-Chambers-no-longer-to-appear-on-Ivory-Snow-boxes/

None of the images of Ivory Snow boxes with Chambers that I've seen actually carry the "99/44 Pure" slogan, although the slogan was used for the product (and not just for the cosmetic soap).



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of paul johnson
Sent: Sunday, September 03, 2017 7:02 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Ivory Soap

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
>      
>      
>      
>      
>      _____________________________________________________________
>      Netscape.  Just the Net You Need.
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>
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