Cavity protection or cosmetic perfection? Innovation and marketing of toothpaste brands in the United States and Western Europe, 1955-1985

Business History Review

Volumn 78, Issue 1, 2004, Pages 29-60

  Miskell, Peter ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF READING   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 2942535897     PISSN: 00076805     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/25096828     Document Type: Review

References (105)

1. Susan Strasser, Satisfaction Guaranteed: The Making of the American Mass Market (New York, 1989), 6.
2. Richard S. Tedlow, New and Improved: The Story of Mass Marketing in America (Oxford, 1990), 20.
3. Daniel Pope, The Making of Modern Advertising (New York, 1983); Roland Marchand, Advertising the American Dream: Making Way for Modernity (Berkeley, 1985); William Leiss, Stephen Kline, and Sut Jhally, Social Communication in Advertising: Persons, Products and Images of Well-Being (Toronto, 1990); Strasser, Satisfaction Guaranteed; Tedlow, New and Improved; Vincent Vinikas, Soft Soap, Hard Sell: American Hygiene in an Age of Advertising (Ames, Iowa, 1992).
4. Daniel Pope, The Making of Modern Advertising (New York, 1983); Roland Marchand, Advertising the American Dream: Making Way for Modernity (Berkeley, 1985); William Leiss, Stephen Kline, and Sut Jhally, Social Communication in Advertising: Persons, Products and Images of Well-Being (Toronto, 1990); Strasser, Satisfaction Guaranteed; Tedlow, New and Improved; Vincent Vinikas, Soft Soap, Hard Sell: American Hygiene in an Age of Advertising (Ames, Iowa, 1992).
5. Daniel Pope, The Making of Modern Advertising (New York, 1983); Roland Marchand, Advertising the American Dream: Making Way for Modernity (Berkeley, 1985); William Leiss, Stephen Kline, and Sut Jhally, Social Communication in Advertising: Persons, Products and Images of Well-Being (Toronto, 1990); Strasser, Satisfaction Guaranteed; Tedlow, New and Improved; Vincent Vinikas, Soft Soap, Hard Sell: American Hygiene in an Age of Advertising (Ames, Iowa, 1992).
6. Daniel Pope, The Making of Modern Advertising (New York, 1983); Roland Marchand, Advertising the American Dream: Making Way for Modernity (Berkeley, 1985); William Leiss, Stephen Kline, and Sut Jhally, Social Communication in Advertising: Persons, Products and Images of Well-Being (Toronto, 1990); Strasser, Satisfaction Guaranteed; Tedlow, New and Improved; Vincent Vinikas, Soft Soap, Hard Sell: American Hygiene in an Age of Advertising (Ames, Iowa, 1992).
7. Daniel Pope, The Making of Modern Advertising (New York, 1983); Roland Marchand, Advertising the American Dream: Making Way for Modernity (Berkeley, 1985); William Leiss, Stephen Kline, and Sut Jhally, Social Communication in Advertising: Persons, Products and Images of Well-Being (Toronto, 1990); Strasser, Satisfaction Guaranteed; Tedlow, New and Improved; Vincent Vinikas, Soft Soap, Hard Sell: American Hygiene in an Age of Advertising (Ames, Iowa, 1992).
8. Daniel Pope, The Making of Modern Advertising (New York, 1983); Roland Marchand, Advertising the American Dream: Making Way for Modernity (Berkeley, 1985); William Leiss, Stephen Kline, and Sut Jhally, Social Communication in Advertising: Persons, Products and Images of Well-Being (Toronto, 1990); Strasser, Satisfaction Guaranteed; Tedlow, New and Improved; Vincent Vinikas, Soft Soap, Hard Sell: American Hygiene in an Age of Advertising (Ames, Iowa, 1992).
9. Stanley C. Hollander, "The Marketing Concept: A déjà vu," in G. Fisk, ed., Marketing Management Technology as a Social Process (New York, 1986); Stanley C. Hollander and Richard Germain, Was There a Pepsi Generation Before Pepsi Invented It? Youth-Based Segmentation in Marketing (Lincolnwood, Ill., 1992).
10. Stanley C. Hollander, "The Marketing Concept: A déjà vu," in G. Fisk, ed., Marketing Management Technology as a Social Process (New York, 1986); Stanley C. Hollander and Richard Germain, Was There a Pepsi Generation Before Pepsi Invented It? Youth-Based Segmentation in Marketing (Lincolnwood, Ill., 1992).
11. Roy Church, "New Perspectives on the History of Products, Firms, Marketing, and Consumers in Britain and the United States since the Mid-Nineteenth Century," Economic History Review 52 (Aug. 1999): 430. Nancy Koehn's work on brands shows how illuminating such case studies can be. See Nancy F. Koehn, Brand New: How Entrepreneurs Earned Consumers' Trust from Wedgwood to Dell (Boston, 2001); Nancy F. Koehn, "Henry Heinz and Brand Creation in the Late Nineteenth Century: Making Markets for Processed Food," Business History Review 73 (Autumn 1999): 349-93.
12. Roy Church, "New Perspectives on the History of Products, Firms, Marketing, and Consumers in Britain and the United States since the Mid-Nineteenth Century," Economic History Review 52 (Aug. 1999): 430. Nancy Koehn's work on brands shows how illuminating such case studies can be. See Nancy F. Koehn, Brand New: How Entrepreneurs Earned Consumers' Trust from Wedgwood to Dell (Boston, 2001); Nancy F. Koehn, "Henry Heinz and Brand Creation in the Late Nineteenth Century: Making Markets for Processed Food," Business History Review 73 (Autumn 1999): 349-93.
13. Roy Church, "New Perspectives on the History of Products, Firms, Marketing, and Consumers in Britain and the United States since the Mid-Nineteenth Century," Economic History Review 52 (Aug. 1999): 430. Nancy Koehn's work on brands shows how illuminating such case studies can be. See Nancy F. Koehn, Brand New: How Entrepreneurs Earned Consumers' Trust from Wedgwood to Dell (Boston, 2001); Nancy F. Koehn, "Henry Heinz and Brand Creation in the Late Nineteenth Century: Making Markets for Processed Food," Business History Review 73 (Autumn 1999): 349-93.
14. Colgate was careful not to make overly ambitious claims about the chemical properties of the paste itself. The act of brushing with Colgate was promoted, not just the product itself. The endorsement of the professor of dentistry was merely that the product offered "a pleasant and agreeable stimulation" and imparted "an agreeable fragrance to the breath." See "Colgate Dental Cream," Modern Packaging (May 1949): 102; John Simley, "Colgate," in Janice Jorgensen, ed., Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands, vol. 2: Personal Products (Detroit, 1994), 140-3.
15. Colgate was careful not to make overly ambitious claims about the chemical properties of the paste itself. The act of brushing with Colgate was promoted, not just the product itself. The endorsement of the professor of dentistry was merely that the product offered "a pleasant and agreeable stimulation" and imparted "an agreeable fragrance to the breath." See "Colgate Dental Cream," Modern Packaging (May 1949): 102; John Simley, "Colgate," in Janice Jorgensen, ed., Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands, vol. 2: Personal Products (Detroit, 1994), 140-3.
16. "Colgate Dental Cream," Modern Packaging (May, 1949): 101, 103.
17. Kathy Peiss, Hope in a Jar: The Making of America's Beauty Culture (New York, 1998), 97-133; Philip Scranton, ed., Beauty and Business: Commerce, Culture and Gender in Modern America (New York, 2001).
18. Kathy Peiss, Hope in a Jar: The Making of America's Beauty Culture (New York, 1998), 97-133; Philip Scranton, ed., Beauty and Business: Commerce, Culture and Gender in Modern America (New York, 2001).
19. Gerard B. Lambert, "How I Sold Listerine," Fortune (Sept. 1956), 111, 168-72; Marchand, Advertising the American Dream, 18-20; Vinikas, Soft Soap, Hard Sell, 95-117.
20. Gerard B. Lambert, "How I Sold Listerine," Fortune (Sept. 1956), 111, 168-72; Marchand, Advertising the American Dream, 18-20; Vinikas, Soft Soap, Hard Sell, 95-117.
21. Gerard B. Lambert, "How I Sold Listerine," Fortune (Sept. 1956), 111, 168-72; Marchand, Advertising the American Dream, 18-20; Vinikas, Soft Soap, Hard Sell, 95-117.
22. Teeth are among the best preserved parts of the body after death, enabling scientists to accurately measure the distribution of dental caries in different historical periods. See, for example, W. J. Moore, "Dental Caries in Britain from Roman Times to the Nineteenth Century," in Catherine Geissler and Derek J. Oddy, eds., Food, Diet and Economic Change Past and Present (Leicester, 1993), 50-61. Evidence that nineteenth-century dentists and physicians regarded tooth decay as a growing problem is found in J. C. Drummond and Anne Wilbraham, The Englishman's Food: A History of Five Centuries of English Diet (London, 1957 edition), 385-7.
23. Teeth are among the best preserved parts of the body after death, enabling scientists to accurately measure the distribution of dental caries in different historical periods. See, for example, W. J. Moore, "Dental Caries in Britain from Roman Times to the Nineteenth Century," in Catherine Geissler and Derek J. Oddy, eds., Food, Diet and Economic Change Past and Present (Leicester, 1993), 50-61. Evidence that nineteenth-century dentists and physicians regarded tooth decay as a growing problem is found in J. C. Drummond and Anne Wilbraham, The Englishman's Food: A History of Five Centuries of English Diet (London, 1957 edition), 385-7.
24. Geoffrey Jones, "The Chocolate Multinationals: Cadbury, Fry and Rowntree 1918-1939," in British Multinationals: Origins, Management and Performance (Aldershot, 1986), 96-118 ; Alfred D. Chandler, Scale and Scope: The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism (Cambridge, Mass. 1990), 242-7, 262-8.
25. Geoffrey Jones, "The Chocolate Multinationals: Cadbury, Fry and Rowntree 1918-1939," in British Multinationals: Origins, Management and Performance (Aldershot, 1986), 96-118 ; Alfred D. Chandler, Scale and Scope: The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism (Cambridge, Mass. 1990), 242-7, 262-8.
26. John Burnett, Plenty and Want: A Social History of Diet in England from 1815 to the Present Day (London, 1979 edition), 24, 132, 318.
27. George Orwell, "The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius - Part I: England Your England," in Sonia Orwell and Ian Angus, eds., The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell, Vol. 2: My Country Right or Left (London, 1968), 57.
28. Harvey A. Levenstein, Revolution at the Table: The Transformation of the American Diet (New York, 1988). American eating patterns in the twentieth century are explored in Harvey A. Levenstein, Paradox of Plenty: A Social History of Eating in Modern America (New York, 1993).
29. Harvey A. Levenstein, Revolution at the Table: The Transformation of the American Diet (New York, 1988). American eating patterns in the twentieth century are explored in Harvey A. Levenstein, Paradox of Plenty: A Social History of Eating in Modern America (New York, 1993).
30. Sidney W. Mintz, Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History (New York, 1985), 188.
31. Waverley Root and Richard de Rochemont, Eating in America: A History (New York, 1976), 418.
32. Burnett, Plenty and Want, 139-40.
33. Moore, "Dental Caries," 50, 56.
34. Dental caries has, in fact, been classified as one of a number of medical conditions characteristic of modern civilization. See, T. L. Cleave, The Saccharine Disease: Conditions caused by the Taking of Refined Carbohydrates, such as Sugar and White Flour (Bristol, 1974), 66-72.
35. Miller's The Microorganisms of the Mouth was published in 1890. See H. A. Loe, "Scientific Revolutions in Dentistry," Journal of Dental Research 58 (Special Issue D, 1979), 2164-8.
36. See A. W. Lufkin, A History of Dentistry (London, 1948), 226-9.
37. Loe, "Scientific Revolutions," 2165; Lufkin, A History of Dentistry, 229-33.
38. Loe, "Scientific Revolutions," 2165; Lufkin, A History of Dentistry, 229-33.
39. Roger King, The History of Dentistry: Technique and Demand (Cambridge, 1997), 27.
40. Robert S. Harris, "Dietary Chemicals in Relation to Dental Caries," in Dietary Chemicals vs. Dental Caries, ed. Robert S. Harris (Washington, D.C., 1970), 2.
41. Chandler, Scale and Scope, 147-9.
42. "Colgate Dental Cream," 101-2.
43. Chandler, Scale and Scope, 148.
44. Advertising costs accounted for approximately 28 percent of toothpaste sales in both the United States and the United Kingdom in the mid-1930s. Only proprietary medicines were more heavily advertised. Nicholas Kaldor and Rodney Silverman, A Statistical Analysis of Advertising Expenditure and of the Revenue of the Press (Cambridge, 1948), 31, 146-7.
45. "Colgate Dental Cream," 100-3; Simley, "Colgate," 140-3.
46. "Colgate Dental Cream," 100-3; Simley, "Colgate," 140-3.
47. H. G. Lazell, From Pills to Penicillin: The Beecham Story (London, 1975), 7-11.
48. Vinikas, Soft Soap, Hard sell, 93.
49. Wilson makes little mention of toothpaste in his authoritative three-volume history of the company. Charles Wilson, A History of Unilever, 3 vols. (London, 1954, 1968).
50. Unilever's operations in the U.S. toothpaste market after 1945 are described in Geoffrey Jones, "Control, Performance, and Knowledge Transfers in Large Multinationals: Unilever in the United States, 1945-1980," .Business History Review 76 (Autumn 2002): 435-78.
51. A Unilever committee, appointed to explore the possibilities offered by the "toilet preparations" market, reported in 1960 that, in the toothpaste sector, its product quality and distribution had for many years been inferior to Colgate's, and "it is only in the last year or two that we have been matching them in a number of markets." Unilever set itself the ambitious target of increasing its global market share in toothpaste by 50 percent by 1965. "World Toilet Preparations Survey 1959-1960," report no. 3110, 23-9; D. B. Hurst and J. Pierre, "Personal Products Sales Analysis, 1977-1982," report no. ES 82303. Both in UAR.
52. Editors of Advertising Age, The House that Ivory Built (Lincolnwood, Ill., 1988), 24-5; Oscar Schisgall, Eyes on Tomorrow: The Evolution of Procter and Gamble (Chicago, 1981), 204-9.
53. Editors of Advertising Age, The House that Ivory Built (Lincolnwood, Ill., 1988), 24-5; Oscar Schisgall, Eyes on Tomorrow: The Evolution of Procter and Gamble (Chicago, 1981), 204-9.
54. Lazell, From Pills to Penicillin, 75.
55. "World Toilet Preparations Survey, 1959-60," report no. 3110, 24, UAR.
56. Toothpaste consumption in Canada was much closer to the levels seen in the United States than to those in most European countries. See Table 2.
57. Unilever Economics Department, "Toothpaste Strategy: An Economics Contribution," May 1987, paper 1, UAR.
58. European Cosmetics Markets (Nov. /Dec. 1991), 317-20.
59. "Transnational Strategies - Some Multinational Competitors of Unilever" (1983), 6, ES 83135, UAR.
60. L. Sutton and F. van den Berg, "Blendax: A Profile of What P&G Have Bought" (Nov. 1987), ES 87042, UAR.
61. "Toothpaste Strategy: An Economics Contribution," paper 7.
62. "World Toilet Preparations Survey, 1959-1960," 28.
63. "Toothpaste Tempest," Chemical Week (22 Aug. 1964): 53-4.
64. Schisgall, Eyes on Tomorrow, 205.
65. J. A. Schumpeter, The Theory of Economic Development: An Enquiry into Profits, Capital, Credit, Interest and the Business Cycle (trans. by Redvers Opie, Cambridge, Mass., 1934), 88; also Mark Casson, ed., Entrepreneurship (Aldershot, 1990), 128.
66. J. A. Schumpeter, The Theory of Economic Development: An Enquiry into Profits, Capital, Credit, Interest and the Business Cycle (trans. by Redvers Opie, Cambridge, Mass., 1934), 88; also Mark Casson, ed., Entrepreneurship (Aldershot, 1990), 128.
67. "Adult Approach," Chemical Week (2 Apr. 1955): 80-3.
68. "Competition in the US Toothpaste Market," Table 3; Schisgall, Eyes on Tomorrow.
69. "Competition in the US Toothpaste Market," Table 3; Schisgall, Eyes on Tomorrow.
70. "Toothpaste Tempest"; Schisgall, Eyes on Tomorrow.
71. "Toothpaste Tempest"; Schisgall, Eyes on Tomorrow.
72. "Competition in the US Toothpaste Market," Table 3.
73. "Toothpaste Tempest," 53.
74. "Dentists Endorse Colgate Formula," Business Week (11 Oct. 1969), 46-7; "Competition in the US Toothpaste Market," Table 3.
75. "Dentists Endorse Colgate Formula," Business Week (11 Oct. 1969), 46-7; "Competition in the US Toothpaste Market," Table 3.
76. J. A. Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (London, 1976 edition), 81-6.
77. "Competition in the US Toothpaste Market," 7-8.
78. In many European countries, such as France, Belgium, Sweden, and the Netherlands, any products making medical claims, could only be distributed through pharmacies. Unilever Marketing Division, "Gum Health Toothpaste Review," June 1974, Reports Box 8, SC 5216, Appendix a. Unilever Archives, London [UAL hereafter].
79. "Toothpaste Strategy," paper 3.
80. See "Toothpaste Strategy: An Economics Contribution," paper 6, 2; "Gum Health Toothpaste Review," 12; L. Sutton and F. van den Berg, "Blendax: A Profile of What P&G Have Bought" (Nov. 1987), ES 87042, UAR.
81. See "Toothpaste Strategy: An Economics Contribution," paper 6, 2; "Gum Health Toothpaste Review," 12; L. Sutton and F. van den Berg, "Blendax: A Profile of What P&G Have Bought" (Nov. 1987), ES 87042, UAR.
82. See "Toothpaste Strategy: An Economics Contribution," paper 6, 2; "Gum Health Toothpaste Review," 12; L. Sutton and F. van den Berg, "Blendax: A Profile of What P&G Have Bought" (Nov. 1987), ES 87042, UAR.
83. "Toothpaste Strategy," paper 4, 2.
84. The House that Ivory Built, 25.
85. Schisgall, Eyes on Tomorrow, 201.
86. "P&G's Crest Gets Modernity, Dimension in Magazines," Advertising Age (20 Oct. 1969), 156.
87. Opie, Colgate-Palmolive, 27.
88. "Gum Health Toothpaste Review," 11, 15.
89. I b i d.
90. "Brand Policy Document: Close Up," 4.
91. Ibid., 5-6, Appendix 3.
92. Opie, Colgate-Palmolive, 25.
93. "World Toilet Preparations Survey 1959-1960," report no. 3110; D. B. Hurst and J. Pierre, "Personal Products Sales Analysis, 1977-1982," report no. ES 82303,26.
94. "World Toilet Preparations Survey 1959-1960," report no. 3110; D. B. Hurst and J. Pierre, "Personal Products Sales Analysis, 1977-1982," report no. ES 82303,26.
95. See appendix.
96. A similar picture can be detected in Europe. A survey of the gum health sector found that "the tendency is for on-going brands to sustain themselves by advertising below their market share." In Germany in 1973, for example, Blend-a-Med held a market share of 25 percent, yet it accounted for less than 18 percent of advertising. "Gum Health Toothpaste Review," 11 and Appendix 6.
97. Eyes on Tomorrow, 207.
98. "Gum Health Toothpaste Review," 16.
99. Judith Williamson, Decoding Advertising: Ideology and Meaning in Advertising (London, 1982 edition), 12.
100. Tedlow, New and Improved, 4-8.
101. "Gum Health Toothpaste Review," 15.
102. "Brand Policy Document: Close Up," 3.
103. Ibid., 5.
104. "P&G's Crest Gets Modernity."
105. "Gum Health Toothpaste Review," 9.