Rinso: Little Miss Muddlehead

1 Jan 1943
Sound
2m

Use Rinso and help defeat Hitler! The soap brand deploys some savvy wartime advertising.

Laundry soap brand Rinso was quick to jump on the 1940s fuel rationing bandwagon and remind housewives that, unlike other soaps, Rinso required very little hot water (it was customary to boil clothes at the time). This ingenious two-pronged marketing approach - bolster the war effort while increasing sales - was in keeping with the soap manufacturer's pioneering approach to advertising.

Along with print campaigns, Rinso and other soap brands started sponsoring daytime radio shows ('soap operas') in America as early as the 1920s and Britain in the 1930s, before moving into screen advertising.

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