401. PRC's WHEEL: A Little Wheel Does a Lot of Washing Campaign, 1965-66.

' A LITTLE WHEEL DOES A LOT OF WASHING' LAUNCH AD, 1965

WHEEL, a product of Philippine Refining Co.,(PRC), was one of the leading detergent bars of the 1960s, a precursor of ‘SUPERWHEEL’, which would turn out to be even bigger. In 1965, a new campaign was rolled out, that touched on the capacity of one slow-melting detergent bar to handle bigger washloads—making WHEEL, in effect, cost-efficient, economical, giving value for money unlike any other.

The thematic campaign ‘A Little Wheel Does a Lot of Washing’ was developed by J. Walter Thompson, Phils., and to make the promise come alive, the agency employed large Filipino families—obviously with loads and loads of laundry to wash--- to provide testimonials to WHEEL’s ability to handle large volumes of dirty clothes.

Leading off the print ad series were members of the DELA ROSA FAMILY., 10 children in all: Front Row: Raffy, Bobby, Charito, Monina, Eddie and Cheque. Back Row: Menchu, Maricel, Mike, Ginger. “WHEEL  melts slowly”, Mrs.  Dela Rosa notes.”With a large family like mine, this is important.”

The family of ATTY. AND MRS. BARTOLOME RIVERA includes  brood of 10:  Renato (22), Mario (20), Rebecca (18), Reynaldo (16), Antonio (14), Leonor (12), Jessica (10), Bartolome III (8), Josephine (6), Nerissa (4). “WHEEL melts so slowly…”, Mrs. Rivera gushes, “see now how it is so economical!”

The family of MR. AND MRS. BENJAMIN PEREZ consists of 9 children: Cherrie (7),  Fancy (14, twin), Benjie (15), Jeannette (19), Mina (23), Lilian (17), Edwin (12), Glenn (3), Ruby (14, twin). Mrs. Rosario Perez says: “Just a little WHEEL is enough to wash all our white clothes whiter . all our colored clothes cleaner!”

The family of DR. AND MRS. GREGORIO CANCIO counts 9 kids: Marie Ched (3), Jose Marie (4), Margaret (1), Imelda (8), Greg (14), Salvador (12), Marie (10), Louies (9), Manny (6). Mrs.  Imelda Borromeo-Cancio enthuses: “Economical WHEEL keeps my family looking neat and clean, all days of the week!”.

This must have been a convincing campaign as by the mid to late 60s, most large families do their washing the economical way—with WHEEL!