Swan was a brand of

soap Soap is a salt (chemistry), salt of a fatty acid (sometimes other carboxylic acids) used for cleaning and lubricating products as well as other applications. In a domestic setting, soaps, specifically "toilet soaps", are surfactants usually u ...

introduced by the

Lever Brothers Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and su ...

Company in the United States in 1941 to compete with

Ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and Tooth, teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mamm ...

Description

Swan, like Ivory, was a floating soap. Still, Lever had developed and patented a new manufacturing method that streamlined the process and resulted in a finer product, more like milled soap. Swan Soap is no longer marketed.

Advertising

Lever Brothers used the Swan brand name to sponsor several radio programs, notably ''

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show ''The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show'', sometimes called ''The Burns and Allen Show'', is a half-hour television sitcom broadcast from 1950 to 1958 on CBS. It starred George Burns and Gracie Allen, one of the most enduring acts in entertainm ...

'' (1941–1945), '' Joanie's Tea Room'' (1945–1947), '' The Bob Hope Show'' (1948–1949), and '' My Friend Irma'' (1947–1951). Swan was advertised as a hand soap used in the kitchen or the bathroom to bathe the baby. A typical advertisement boasted that it was "the white floating soap that's purer than the finest castiles". Swan's print ads were colorful works of art that often featured children, babies, soapsuds, and, of course, a

swan Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology) ...

. Some people displayed the Swan soap ad prints on their walls at home. The company made the art prints available to the public as promotional items.

Lawsuits

Lever and

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/con ...

became embroiled in litigation over the process, and Lever sued Procter & Gamble for patent infringement after the format of Ivory changed; the

appellate court An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appel ...

found that the patent had been infringed and Procter & Gamble were required to pay $5.675 million to Lever. In 1972, Gladys Young sued the manufacturer of Swan liquid dishwashing detergent, Lever Brothers, and the manufacturer's insurer for damages because of skin irritation allegedly caused by her use of the product between 1968 and 1970. She testified that a week or two after she started using Swan, the detergent dried out her fingers, and they began to itch around the nails. When her nails began to recede within two or three months, Mrs. Young reflected upon the cause and theorized that the change to Swan could have been responsible for the condition. The district court dismissed her suit after a trial on the merits on September 26, 1973. However, publicity from the trial hurt sales, and Swan Detergent was discontinued by 1974.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book , last=Aaker , first=David A. , title=Managing Brand Equity , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r_TSY5sxnO8C&pg=PT19 , year=2009 , publisher=Simon and Schuster , isbn=978-1-4391-8838-5 , page=19 {{cite book , last=Dunning , first=John , title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio , url=https://archive.org/details/onairencyclop00dunn/page/105 , url-access=registration , year=1998 , publisher=Oxford University Press , isbn=978-0-19-507678-3 , page
105; 124; 371
{{cite book , last1=Winn , first1=J. Emmett , last2=Brinson , first2=Susan L. , title=Transmitting the Past: Historical and Cultural Perspectives on Broadcasting , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-_Ugz8LozusC&pg=PA146 , year=2005 , publisher=University of Alabama Press , isbn=978-0-8173-5175-5 , pages=140; 146 {{cite court , litigants=Lever Bros. Co. v. Procter & Gamble Mfg. Co. , vol=139 , reporter=F.2d , opinion=633 , pinpoint= , court=4th Cir. , date=December 28, 1943 , url=http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/139/633/1568047/ , accessdate=2015-02-04 {{cite news , last=Peale , first=Cliff , title=Corporate Espionage Has Long History , date=September 9, 2001 , newspaper=The Cincinnati Enquirer , url=http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2001/09/09/fin_corporate_espionage.html , accessdate=2015-02-04 {{cite web , url=https://casetext.com/case/young-v-lever-brothers-company , year=1973, title=Young vs. Lever Brothers Soap brands Products introduced in 1941 Unilever brands