261. CAMIA COOKING OIL of Philippine Refining Co., Print Ads 1957-1966

CAMIA COOKING OIL, New "No Spill" Pouring Spout, 1957 Ad.

CAMIA institutional size can, 1970s

Cooking shortening, oils and lards were household essentials in every Filipino home, so it is no surprise that many products crowded the market. P&G-Philippine manufacturing Co. (PMC)’s Purico, was of course, the established shortening brand after the War, but it also had Victor Manteca Vegetal and Venus  in the 50s and 60s. Not to be outdone, its rival Philippine Refining Co., (PRC) had its Whiteband brand.  Like PMC, PRC was into the development of coconut oil-based products.

Since PMC’s Purico’s leadership seemed unshakeable, PRC looked into  the arena of liquid cooking oils where only a few players where like Planta, Mayon and Baguio Oil. Towards the end of the 1950s, PRC began advertising its CAMIA Cooking Oil, a vegetable-based product that came in cans.

The name CAMIA, came from a specie of tuberous garden plants that bore white fragrant flowers, sometime called “butterfly flower”, for the shape of their blooms, or white ginger plant. Common in the Philippines, the white kamia flower stood for purity, and became a fitting brand name for its pure vegetable oil product.

Savor the Full Food Flavor! CAMIA OIL, Relaunch Ad, 1966

Surprisingly though, the first cans did not bear any picture of the CAMIA flower; only in 1960 that the cans sported the familiar white bloom on the front panel.

 CAMIA Cooking Oil was pushed through print advertising and sales promotions through the 60s and 70s, and became a worthy competitor to the leading oils of those days. Along the way, it introduced its institutional sizes, a  new “no spill” can, and more mdern can designs in 1966. CAMIA Cooking Oil  flourished until the 1980s, but could not quite catch up with the mass appeal of  Baguio Cooking Oil marketing.