Wisk was an American brand of

laundry detergent Laundry detergent is a type of detergent (cleaning agent) used for cleaning dirty laundry (clothes). Laundry detergent is manufactured in powder (washing powder) and liquid form. While powdered and liquid detergents hold roughly equal share o ...

manufactured in the United States by

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...

(1956 to 2008) and Sun Products (2008 to 2017).

History

Wisk was introduced in the United States by Lever Brothers Company in 1956 as the first liquid laundry detergent. In 2008, Wisk was purchased by

Vestar Capital Partners Vestar Capital Partners is an American private equity firm focusing on leveraged buyout transactions in middle-market companies in the United States."About Us"8/27/08 The firm, which was founded in 1988, is headquartered in New York City with offic ...

after Lever Brothers' parent company

divested its North American laundry brands and combined with Vestar Capital Partners' Huish Detergents, Inc. to form The Sun Products Corporation. In 2010, Wisk was re-launched with a new formulation with new packaging, featuring its new Stain Spectrum Technology and its ability to fight tough stains. A new advertising campaign was also launched, that features the "science of stain fighting". The brand came in a variety of formulations, including "Deep Clean", "High Efficiency", "Fresh Boost" and "Oxi Complete". In June 2016, Henkel acquired Sun Products and discontinued the brand in favor of its own Persil brand, another laundry detergent

Marketing

The brand was widely known for its successful "Ring Around The Collar" campaign introduced in 1968, spotlighting sometimes-difficult to treat stains that appeared on shirt collars, and the product's ability to help fight them. The campaign was created by

BBDO BBDO is a worldwide advertising agency network, with its headquarters in New York City. The agency originated in 1891 with the George Batten Company, and in 1928, through a merger with Barton, Durstine & Osborn (BDO), the agency became Batten, B ...

. The nagging sing-song voiceover of "Ring around the collar!" was performed by

Bob McFadden Robert McFadden (January 19, 1923 – January 7, 2000) was an American singer, impressionist, and voice-over actor perhaps best known for his many contributions to animated cartoons. His most popular television cartoon characters included M ...

. The campaign was criticized decades later for being misogynistic, with the implication that it was the fault of wives that their husbands left home with dirty collars.

References

External links

Official website
{{Henkel Laundry detergents Products introduced in 1956 Defunct consumer brands Products and services discontinued in 2017