Sunlight (cleaning product)

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For other meanings, see Sunlight (disambiguation).
Sunlight packages from around 1900.

Sunlight is a brand of household soap originally produced by the British company Lever Brothers in 1884. Designed for washing clothes and general household use, the success of the product led to the name for the company's village for its workers, Port Sunlight. William Lever's initial success came from offering bars of cut, wrapped, and branded soap in his father's grocery shop. Prior to this, commercially-made soap was bought in long bars, an early labour saving device for the housewife.

It was one of the earliest internationally-marketed branded products, and one of the first examples of a cleaning product being produced as a consumer commodity; prior to Sunlight, clothing was generally washed using homemade soap.

Sunlight was eventually supplanted by the more modern products made from sythentically-produced detergents rather than naturally-derived soaps.

In several markets (e.g. Belgium and the Netherlands) Sunlight soap has survived up till today as a personal wash product rather than a laundry detergent. In Canada, it remains a leading brand of dish soap.

Production for Ireland and the UK ceased in 2009 due to low demand.

[edit] Sunlight Lemon Liquid

In 1971 the company rebranded its Sunlight washing-up liquid in the UK. The new packaging for Sunlight Lemon Liquid had a large picture of a lemon, and only featured the words "washing up liquid" in small letters. There were complaints that children might mistake the product for lemon squash and drink it. The matter was even discussed in the House of Lords. The company responded by changing its packaging.[1]

[edit] Later brand usage

It appears [2] that Sunlight is still used in some markets as a brand by Unilever (the successor of Lever Brothers); at least in some markets it was taken over by Lilleborg in 1930 [3]; in 2003 exclusive licensing rights to the Sunlight brand of dish-washing detergents in Canada, Puerto Rico and the USA were sold (along with some other Unilever brands) to Lehman Brothers bankers [4], who set up Phoenix Brands for the purpose[5]. The Sunlight brand is used by JohnsonDiversey in Canada and the USA. [6] In Sri Lanka, Sunlight is the most popular Laundry soap and has won the award of The brand of the year in 2004. Currently, it has a market share of more than 75% in Sri Lanka [7]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Sunlight Lemon" Washing-up Liquid, Hansard, 1 December 1971
  2. ^ Google search!
  3. ^ Lilleborgs historie i korte trekk - Lilleborg
  4. ^ SEC Info - Unilever NV - 6-K - For 12/9/03 - EX-99
  5. ^ http://www.amsouth.com/business2/capital/success.asp?story=phoenixbrands
  6. ^ Johnson Diversey Consumer Branded Professional Products Catalog
  7. ^ http://www.unileversrilanka.com/ourbrands/homecare/sunlight.asp
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