Even large companies abandon brands in favor of something new. Proctor & Gamble had a predecessor brand to laundry soaps like Tide, Era and Gain, the behemoth detergent brands of today. The brand was Chipso, a flake brand in boxes that promoted the use of safe suds for washing. It was ubiquitous in the 1930s.
Factories for Chipso were advertised in Ivorydale, Ohio; Kansas City and Port Ivory, N.Y. The latter factory was the supplier for soap for the East Coast, and P&G made soap there from 1907-1991, when it was sadly shuttered.
Henry Ford Museum has a Chipso box in their collection. The have the dates as 1947-1957, but there are ads for it back in the 1930s. The product was advertised as being free of lye, which would deteriorate clothes.
It also was apparently part of a lawsuit regarding the product Chase-O, a 1912 Philadelphia product, with a too-close-sounding name. Advertising for Chipso exploded in the 1930s, with product claims about its ability to create suds without destroying the fabric. Some ad copy:
- Just back from my honeymoon… Gray hair and a young heart…. Because Chipso gets underwear so white,” Pictorial Review, 1932
- “With Chipso, we don’t have to rub it to pieces in order to get the dirt out.” Ladies Home Journal.
- John’s suit has been washed in Chipso about 60 times.” Good Housekeeping, 1935.
In the 1940s, P&G introduced, via radio, an elephant, Tuffy, representing Chipso’s “husky washing powder” and Fluffy, a lamb, that promoted its safety.
It was gone by the 1950s. Back in the day, the company abandoned brands, rather than selling them.
Below, a Duke University archival photo of outdoor advertising from the 20th Century, which includes Bond Bread, Atwater-Kent radios and Chipso detergent.
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