1953 Appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine
1949 Women's magazine ad -- Yes, women were crazy about Tide. Once a neighbor or friend tried Tide the word spread like wildfire about how well Tide worked. Not only did people tell their friends about Tide, but they wrote us too! The advertising quickly reflected some of the comments we heard like "I'm just crazy about Tide."
1950 Good Housekeeping Magazine
1956 Women's magazines - Soon after World War II many wringer washers were replaced with new automatic washing machines. As the market grew, many companies entered the business with their own brand of automatic washing machines. Notice the line "the makers of 25 automatics recommend Tide. There are far fewer manufacturers today. Many of those early brands such as the Dexter Automatic with Stablitron Principle did not survive. This ad also shows one of the best ways we devised to get consumers to try Tide. We put a box of Tide in every new automatic washer. This advertising was referred to in the trade as co-op advertising. Both the product and the washer were featured.
1948 Newspaper Ad -- Newspaper advertising, particularly when the product was just rolling out across the country, was a timely and important medium to get the word out about Tide.
1947 Newspaper Ad -- This ad appeared in the comic section of Sunday newspapers and touted the new freedom housewives would have from old-time washday troubles. Those of us who weren't around in the forties and earlier have a hard time imaging what "old-time washday troubles" were. Today we just throw in the detergent and clothes (after they have been sorted of course), push a few buttons and come back 30 minutes later. In the days of the wringer washer, laundry was an all day affair and not something anyone looked forward to. Clothes had to be soaked, bleached, blued, rinsed and put through the wringer. It was back breaking work to get clothes clean. Tide helped revolutionize laundry and freed women from the slavery of laundry day.
1949 Amazing Promise Ad
1949 Farm Journal and Successful Farming -- Detergents like Tide also proved to be a big help to the dairy farmer. Unlike soap flakes, detergents cleaned well and did not leave a film or soapy residue on the equipment. This was important when cleaning milking equipment, for example, so the milk wouldn't be spoiled by the taste of soap.
1947 Los Angeles Examiner -- Synthetic detergent technology for household use was
first developed by Procter & Gamble in 1933 and introduced in a product
called Dreft. Dreft worked well enough on lingerie, stockings, and fine
washables, but it couldn't get out the really tough dirt. It was during
World War II that a P&G scientist discovered that the key to making a
truly effective heavy duty detergent was to create a formula that was
radically different than the formulas to date. The new formula had more
builders and less surfactants than other formulas. Without getting too
technical on you, the builders "get the wash water ready to clean" by
neutralizing chemicals (e.g. calcium) and conditioning the water. Additionally,
surfactants (or surface active molecules) latch on to dirt and remove
it from clothes. However, because of chemical shortages during the
war, the sale of this new formula, called Tide, was delayed until raw
materials were available.
