400. SHOWER TO SHOWER by Johnson & Johnson, Launch Ads 1980

WEAR FRESHNESS THIS SUMMER! Shower to Shower Omnibus Ad, 1980

For more than 100 years, since 1893, health product giant Johnson and Johnson has dominated the profitable talcum powder market beginning with Johnson’s Baby Powder.  Few products have developed the longevity of use that baby powder has his product became a global icon brand and soon, J&J began expanding to other talcum brands that were not just meant for babies’ bottom.

 In 1972, J&J launched a deorodizing talcum brand meant to be used after showering called SHOWER TO SHOWER. One of its most popular 70s campaign theme in the U.S. was the jingle-based “A sprinkle a day, helps keep the odor away”.

Eight years later, the product was launched in the Philippine market by J&J Phils., and, together with  its ad agency, developed a short-lived SHOWER TO SHOWER campaign, that, nevertheless surprised its audience. 

 The“Wear Freshness this Summer” campaign featured half-naked models in all shapes and sizes, wearing nothing but a long, and strategically placed towel, presumably after a shower. One of the models in the omnibus ad was even Ace Compton’s very own producer, Dulce Aristorenas. For the next few years, SHOWER TO SHOWER, with ots catchy jingle, help people to stay dry, to feel fresh, and to be pampered.

J &J held on to SHOWER TO SHOWER for fifty years before it was sold to Valeant Pharmaceuticals in 2012.

In recent years, however, health issues about talcum powder have risen sharply. A commonplace practice for decades, women have used talcum powder and talc-based products in their genital area which indicates the correlation to the deadly cancer. 

SHOWER TO SHOWER is still being sold in Asia—the Philippines included—today. But in May of 2020, Johnson & Johnson quietly announced that it would stop selling all talc-based products—including SHOWER TO SHOWER—in the United States.