ChapStick: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:WatergateChapstickMicrophones.gif|thumb|[[Microphone]]s in ChapStick tubes, used by [[E. Howard Hunt]] and [[G. Gordon Liddy]] during the burglary in the [[Watergate building]]]] |
[[Image:WatergateChapstickMicrophones.gif|thumb|[[Microphone]]s in ChapStick tubes, used by [[E. Howard Hunt]] and [[G. Gordon Liddy]] during the burglary in the [[Watergate building]]]] |
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In the early 1870s, Dr. |
In the early 1870s, Dr. [[Charles Browne Fleet]],<ref name=CPhistory>[http://www.cbfleet.com/about/history.aspx C.B. Fleet: History<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> a physician and pharmacological tinkerer from [[Lynchburg, Virginia]], invented ChapStick as a lip balm. The handmade product, which resembled a wickless candle wrapped in tin foil, was sold locally, but did not have much success. |
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In 1912, John Morton, also a Lynchburg resident, bought the rights to the product for five dollars. In their family kitchen, Mrs. Morton melted the pink ChapStick mixture, cooled it, and cut in into sticks. Their lucrative sales were used to found the Morton Manufacturing Corporation. |
In 1912, John Morton, also a Lynchburg resident, bought the rights to the product for five dollars. In their family kitchen, Mrs. Morton melted the pink ChapStick mixture, cooled it, and cut in into sticks. Their lucrative sales were used to found the Morton Manufacturing Corporation. |
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Revision as of 02:53, 16 March 2009
ChapStick is a brand name for lip balm manufactured by Wyeth Consumer Healthcare, used in the United States, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and Sweden. It is intended to help treat and prevent chapped lips; hence the name. Many varieties also include SPF 15 sunscreen in order to prevent sunburn.
Due to ChapStick's popularity, the term has become a brandnomer, used to refer to any lip balm contained in a lipstick-style tube and applied in the same manner as lipstick. However, the term is still a registered trademark, with rights exclusively owned by Wyeth. In the United Kingdom the product's main competitor is Lypsyl, made by Novartis Consumer Health, which is distributed in similar packaging.
History
In the early 1870s, Dr. Charles Browne Fleet,[1] a physician and pharmacological tinkerer from Lynchburg, Virginia, invented ChapStick as a lip balm. The handmade product, which resembled a wickless candle wrapped in tin foil, was sold locally, but did not have much success.
In 1912, John Morton, also a Lynchburg resident, bought the rights to the product for five dollars. In their family kitchen, Mrs. Morton melted the pink ChapStick mixture, cooled it, and cut in into sticks. Their lucrative sales were used to found the Morton Manufacturing Corporation.
In the early 1930s, Frank Wright, Jr., a commercial artist from Lynchburg, VA, was commissioned to design the ChapStick logo that is still in use today. He was paid a flat fee of $50.
In 1963, The A.H. Robins Company acquired ChapStick from Morton Manufacturing Corporation. At that time, only ChapStick Lip Balm regular stick was being marketed to consumers; subsequently, many more varieties have been introduced. This includes ChapStick flavored sticks in 1971, ChapStick Sunblock 15 in 1981, ChapStick Petroleum Jelly Plus in 1981, and ChapStick Medicated in 1992. Skier Suzy Chaffee was a spokesperson for the brand in the 1970s. Former ski racer Picabo Street is commonly seen on television commercials as one of the company's endorsers.
Composition
Any given ChapStick may contain camphor, beeswax, menthol, petrolatum, phenol, Vitamin E, and aloe. ChapStick Original contains the controversial ingredient Oxybenzone.[citation needed] However, there are hundreds of variants of ChapStick, each with its own composition.
The full list of ingredients in a regular flavoured Chapstick are as follows:
arachidyl propionate, camphor, carnauba wax, cetyl alcohol, D&C red no. 6 barium lake, FD&C yellow no. 5 aluminum lake, fragrance, isopropyl lanolate, isopropyl myristate, lanolin, light mineral oil, methylparaben, octyldodecanol, oleyl alcohol, paraffin, phenyl trimethicone, propylparaben, titanium dioxide, white wax
Uses
ChapStick functions as both a sunscreen, available with SPFs as high as 35, and a skin moisturizer and lubricant to help prevent and protect chafed, chapped, sunburned, cracked, and windburned lips.
"Medicated" varieties also contain analgesics to relieve sore lips.
ChapStick tubes with hidden microphones played a role in the Watergate scandal of the early 1970s.[2]
Marketing
Chapstick is sometimes available in special flavors developed in connection with marketing partners such as Disney (as in cross-promotions with Winnie the Pooh or the movie Cars) or with causes, such as Breast Cancer Awareness, in which 30¢ is donated for each stick sold,[3] (as in the "Susan G. Komen Pink Pack"). The "Flava-Craze" line is marketed to children, with colorful applicators and "fun" flavors such as "Grape Craze," "Blue Crazeberry," and "Watermelon Splash."
US Olympic skier Suzy Chaffee starred in ChapStick commercials on television in which she dubbed herself "Suzy ChapStick." Another very famous Chapstick advertisement includes basketball legend Julius Erving (AKA Dr. J) naming himself Dr. Chapstick and telling young children about the great things that Chapstick can do. [4]
References
External links
- ChapStick - Official website
- ChapStick UK - Official UK website
- The History of Chapstick