Pepsodent
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2007) |
Pepsodent is a brand of toothpaste. It was formerly owned by Unilever but, since 2003, by Church and Dwight, .
It was advertised for its purported properties fighting tooth decay, attributed in advertisements to the supposed ingredient "Irium". Irium is generally identified[who?] as sodium lauryl sulfate, an inexpensive ionic surfactant. However, in a 1994 speech, then-FCC chairman Reed Hundt claimed that the "Irium" mentioned in Pepsodent advertisements "didn't exist".[1] "Irium" is also the name of a radioactive compound.[citation needed]
Another ingredient, "I.M.P." was purported to whiten teeth. Its best-known slogan was “You'll wonder where the yellow went / when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent!” British comedian Jasper Carrott referred to the slogan in one of his stand-up routines, saying “On your tongue - that's where the yellow went!”
Pepsodent was a very popular brand before the mid '50s, but its makers were slow to add fluoride to its formula to counter the rise of other highly promoted brands such as Crest and Gleem by Procter & Gamble, and Colgate's eponymous product; sales of Pepsodent plummeted. Today Pepsodent is a “value brand” marketed primarily in discount store and retails for roughly half the price of similarly-sized tubes of Crest or of Colgate.
In the 1930s a massive animated neon advertising sign, featuring a young girl on a swing, hung on a building in Times Square in New York City. This ad was re-created for the climax of the 2005 film King Kong.
The product was discontinued in South Africa in 1974. The popular slogan was also changed in South Africa to "You'll wonder where the dullness went / when you polish your teeth with Pepsodent".
Pepsodent is still sold as a Unilever property in India[1], Indonesia [2], Chile[3], Finland[4], and several other countries.
References
- ^ Reed E. Hundt (October 13 1994). "Address Before the NAB Radio Show". Retrieved 2007-08-21.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite journal requires|journal=(help)
See also
External links
 | This dentistry article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |