12. June 2023
This rare 1927 Palmolive poster from our collection, not only stems from a very short-lived period of the brand, but was also designed by the most prolific commercial artist of Republican China. Follow along for a deep-dive into this golden age of Chinese advertising.
02. January 2023
As gorgeous and innocent looking this “Honey Soap” advertising poster featuring Chinese actress Li Lili is, it actually tells the story of several dark episodes from China’s marketing and entertainment history.
18. April 2022
While there is some debate over what event exactly marked the end of the American Indian Wars, it is commonly considered to have been the Battle of Wounded Knee in December 1890. The same year the US Census Bureau broadcast the closure of the Frontier, meaning that in the West there remained no more apparent tracts of land without settlers. What we do know for sure is that almost exactly 13 years later, on a rather windy December morning in 1903, the brothers Wright launched the first...
04. October 2021
When British Lever Brothers launched Lifebuoy soap in 1894, it was with a mission to ‘make cleanliness commonplace’. This was important because in Victorian England infectious diseases were the number one cause of death. Lifebuoy came to the rescue with an effective antibacterial soap which was affordable and widely available. The company first entered China in 1911 when the newly created 'Lever Brothers China' - or LBC (利华肥皂有限公司) took over from treaty port agents the...
25. June 2021
Some time after 1913 independent competitors Crosfields, Brunner Mond & Price's Candle Company founded The China Soap & Candle Company, Shanghai; it was cheaper to manufacture in Shanghai than ship from Liverpool. In 1919 Lever purchased Gossages & Crosfields from Brunner Mond and resolved the competitive altercation. A new Lever company was formed in Shanghai as “The China Soap Company” and it’s factory was built in 1923 in Yangpoo District’s No. 2310 Yangtzepoo Road. The...
11. January 2021
After several endeavors in the salts and copper industry the British entrepreneur William Gossage founded the The Gossage Soap Company in 1850. After a first success with silicated soap, the company faced a first threat in 1884 – Lever Brother’s Sunlight Soap. The new Sunlight was a technical and commercial novelty. Gossage's response was to produce their own similar soap, also wrapped, branded and advertised. This was 'Gossage’s Magical Soap', whose logo included a wizard and mystical...
15. November 2019
Celebrity endorsements and Key Opinion Leaders are all the rage in China's modern advertising and e-commerce market. Yet few consumers and marketers actually know who almost 100 years ago came up with the idea of using stars to promote a specific brand. LUX soap was founded by the firm Lever Brothers, now known as Unilever, in 1899. Marketed as a laundry product for over 20 years, only in 1924, the company conducted a contest that led them to a very interesting finding: women were using LUX as...
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