325. Brand Stories: DUTCH CLEANSER, 1905

OLD DUTCH CLEANSER..Chases Dirt! Makes Everything Spic ;n Span!

Would you believe that the original company that gave the world the cleansing product  known as OLD DUTCH CLEANSER was engaged in the slaughter of animals? Cudahy Packing Co. had a pumice mine in Meade County, Kansas and the white pumice powder was sourced  to clean up the floors of Chicaco slaughterhouses. This led Cudahy Packing Co. to explore the marketing and promotion of a white powder cleanser with the trademark  OLD DUTCH CLEANSER, first used in Sept 1906 and registered in 1905. 

DUTCH FOAMING CLEANSER, 1955

It was so named because Holland was reputed for the impeccably  clean habits of its citizens, a tradition of cleanliness that was visualized in the a picture of a Dutch Lady driving dust and dirt away with a stick. This led to the creation of its slogan OLD DUTCH CLEANSER—Chases Dirt, Makes Everything Spic ‘n Span. In early product packaging versions, the face of the Dutch Lady remained unseen, but subsequent improvements were later made—showing her with a younger, friendlier face.

DUTCH FOAMING CLEANSER, 1958

In its time, OLD DUTCH CLEANSER was considered  innovative, and the scouring power of the pumicite powder  greatly facilitated household cleaning. Pumicite powder was first mined in Kern County, California and was used by other products like Comet and Bon Ami. 

DUTCH CLEANSER, 1956 print ad

Beginning in 1923, pumicite for OLD DUTCH CLEANSER was sourced in an underground mine along Garlock Fault, in the remote Mojave desert, where it naturally occurred. It  produced 120,000 tons of cleansing powder, until its closure  in 1947. Cudahy sold OLD DUTCH CLEANSER to Purex on April 24, 1955.

BARBARA PEREZ FOR DUTCH CLEANSER, 1964

The product was already available in post-war Philippines and was advertised on print in the 1950s. It was sold under the brand name DUTCH FOAMING CLEANSER and came in a cylindrical cardboard packaging that also doubled as a dispenser.  It ads claim that “it does the work of all” –as DUTCH FOAMING CLEANSER cleans everything from tiles to walls and even plates!

DUTCH CLEANSER IN A NEW PLASTIC CANISTER, 1968

By the 1960s, the brand name was simplified to DUTCH CLEANSER, and had actress-mother Barbara Perez as endorser. In 1968.  DUTCH CLEANSER was relaunched in a new plastic canister with a tapering top., and by that time, it was “the largest selling cleanser in the Philippines”.

SOURCE:  DUTCHPH FB PAGE

DUTCH CLEANSER is still around, today and its product line includes bleach, classing cleanser, power cleanser with micro-scrubs, among others. In 1985, the household and consumer products business of Purex Industries, Inc. was acquired by Greyhound Corp. and was combined with Greyhound's Armour-Dial to form The Dial Corporation, which, in April 2004, was acquired by Henkel. In March 2, 2011, it was announced that Monheim and Henkel — which sells Vernel liquid detergent, Perwoll special detergent and Dutch Cleanser, among others — signed a licensing contract to manufacture DUTCH CLEANSER in the Philippines.

 SOURCES:

Purex Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purex_(laundry_detergent)

Old Dutch website: https://www.olddutch.ca/en/

Dutch[h FB page: https://www.facebook.com/dutchph