In the 1920s and 1930s, Palmolive produced the most successful brand of toilet soap in the world. Several decades later, however, younger generations of women no longer found the soap or the package design appealing.
Though the company altered its advertising in an attempt to reach younger women, the soap remained too popular with older women for Palmolive to justify risking a change in its formula or its package. The brand was simply too established. Eventually that market disappeared and so too did Palmolive’s original-formula bar soaps.
Images and related content in the Hagley Digital Archives:
