Figure 1.--This wonderful ad from a 1928 Ivory Soap advertisement shows a boy swearing a red short pants sailor suit. The boy even has red hair to match his sailor suit. He wears ankle socks and brown laether lace up shoes. He looks to be 8-9 yeares of age. Undoubtedly he would have been called red.

Soap companies were much more prominent in the early 20th century through the days or eatly television (1940s-50s) than is the case today. This wonderful ad from a 1928 Ivory Soap advertisement shows a boy swearing a red short pants sailor suit. The boy even has red hair to match his sailor suit. He wears ankle socks and brown laether lace up shoes. He looks to be 8-9 yeares of age. Undoubtedly he would have been called red. I don't think bright red suits were all that common, although most avilable photographs are black and white images. We have not yet adequately assessed available catalog information. He is depicted in a very modern looking bathroom for 1928. Many tubs at the time still had legs and many families did not even have indoor bathrooms. Ivory today has very limited advertisements in magazines and media. They used to feature prominently in magazines and radio and after World War II on television. Theu often mentioned that theur hand soap floated in the bathwater. Notice the kitten on the bar of soap floating rather unrealistically in the bath water. There advertising them that their product was pure and mukd and 99 44/100 percent pure was a long-time promotion. More modern promitions have focused on the mildness of the product. The company has used the Ivory name to leaverage other products like Ivory dishwashing detergents.

Created: March 14, 2003
Last updated: March 14, 2003