{{short description|Brand of soap}} thumb|A 1907 advertisement for Sapolio soap [[File:(King1893NYC) pg985 ENOCH MORGAN'S SONS COMPANY, 439 WEST STREET, CORNER OF BANK STREET.jpg|thumb|Enoch Morgan's Sons Company, 439 West Street, in 1893]] '''Sapolio''' was a brand of soap noted for its advertising, led by Artemas Ward from 1883–1908. Bret Harte wrote jingles for the brand, and the sales force also included King Camp Gillette, who went on to create the Gillette safety razor and the razor and blades business model. ''Time'' magazine described Sapolio as "probably the world's best-advertised product" in its heyday.
Sapolio was manufactured by Enoch Morgan's Sons Co. in 1869 and was named after the family doctor.
James Kenneth Fraser,<ref>{{cite journal |title=The History of "Spotless Town" |journal=Printers' Ink |date=January 1, 1902 |volume=38 |pages=8–10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rrMpAAAAYAAJ&dq=j.+k.+fraser&pg=RA7-PA8 |access-date=September 12, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Fraser |first1=J. K. |title=Copy Don'ts in: Master's of Advertising Copy |date=1936 |pages=181–185 |url=https://thecopyalchemist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Masters-of-Advertising-Copy.pdf |access-date=September 12, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Spotless Town |url=https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/25849/004_23.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |access-date=September 12, 2021 |agency=Cornell Alumni News |issue=171 |date=March 19, 1902}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Sapolio- "Spotless Town" |url=http://great-adv.blogspot.com/2006/09/sapolio-spotless-town.html |website=Great Print Advertising |access-date=September 12, 2021}}</ref> a copywriter and Cornell University engineering student, wrote in 1900 about the effectiveness of the soap in ''The Doctor's Lament:''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Boorstin |first1=Daniel |title=Hidden History |date=1989 |publisher=Vintage Books |location=New York |page=128 |edition=First Vintage Books}}</ref>
{{blockquote|<poem> This lean M.D. is Dr. Brown Who fares but ill in Spotless Town. The town is so confounded clean, It is no wonder he is lean, He's lost all patients now, you know, Because they use ''Sapolio.'' </poem>}}
==Decline and disappearance== {{Expand section|date=January 2025}} After decades of maintaining some of the best-known advertising in the U.S., Sapolio's owners decided that their position was sufficiently insurmountable to let them discontinue most advertising. Despite the brand's overwhelming market position, it was overtaken by competitors within a few years and disappeared before World War II.
==Revival== After the brand Sapolio disappeared, it remained under the domain of Enoch Morgan's Sons Co. until, after some negotiations, it was acquired by Procter & Gamble. However, they did not decide to relaunch the product until many years later, leaving the brand abandoned.
In 1997, the Sapolio brand was acquired by the Peruvian company Intradevco Industrial SA, who bought it from Procter & Gamble. Intradevco owns the Sapolio brand in more than 80 countries. The Sapolio brand now markets various cleaning products in Peru and Chile.
The Intradevco company also bought its Chilean counterpart Klenzo, which held the Sapolio patent in Chile.
In 2019, the Alicorp company bought the rights of Intradevco, which owns Sapolio, making it its parent company.
==References in popular culture== *In the children's book, ''The Hundred Dresses'', the main character wonders if Wanda uses Sapolio to get her forehead to shine. *Confidence man Soapy Smith was often called ''Sapolio Smith'' by the Rocky Mountain News. *In the Ed Smalle, Jerry Macy version of ''Singing in the Bathtub'' (1930), Sapolio is used as a pun: "I Sapolio you think you're smart."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/EdSmalleJerryMacy-SingingInTheBathtub1930|title=Listen Here|accessdate=Aug 26, 2020}}</ref> *In Robert Heinlein's ''To Sail Beyond the Sunset'', Brian Smith (circa 1906) asks his wife, "Mo, the papers say that food prices are up even though the farmers are squawking. And I'm certain that this bigger house is costing you more to run, if only in electricity, gas and Sapolio. How much more each month do you need?" *In the book, ''60 years with Men and Machines'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015068112948|title=60 years with men and machines.|first=Fred H.|last=Colvin|date=Aug 26, 1947|publisher=New York|hdl=2027/mdp.39015068112948|accessdate=Aug 26, 2020}}</ref> by Fred H. Colvin, (pages 122 - 123) references are made to the use of Sapolio as an abrasive in the manufacture of automobile engines, when the required fine lapping was performed by hand labor. *In the 1905 novel, ''The House of Mirth'', by Edith Wharton (Book I - Chapter IX), a reference is made to "the mingled odour of sapolio and furniture-polish".<ref>{{Cite book|title=The House of Mirth|last=Wharton|first=Edith|publisher=|year=|isbn=|location=|pages=}}</ref>
==See also== * List of cleaning products * Alicorp
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{commons category-inline}} * {{official|http://www.sapolio.com.pe }} * {{Cite magazine |title=Business & Finance: Sapolio |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,848470,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081215074148/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,848470,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 15, 2008 |magazine=Time |date=6 April 1936 |accessdate=8 July 2009}} * [http://www.mesugo.com/a-history-of-advertising-through-sapolio-soap-ads/ A History of Advertising through Sapolio Soap Ads] -Mesugo Design
Category:Soap brands
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