In 1879, Procter and Gamble’s best seller was candles. But the company was in trouble. Thomas Edison had invented the light bulb, and the market for candles plummeted since they were now sold only for special occasions.

The outlook appeared to be bleak for Procter and Gamble. A forgetful employee at a small factory in Cincinnati forgot to turn off his machine when he went to lunch. When he returned he found a frothing mass of lather filled with air bubbles. He almost threw the stuff away but instead decided to try to make it into soap. The soap floated!

Some people bathed in the Ohio River. Floating soap would never sink and consequently never got lost. Thus, Ivory soap was born and became the mainstay of the Procter and Gamble Company.

Author unknown. If anyone has a proprietary interest in this story please authenticate and I will be happy to credit, or remove, as the circumstances dictate.

WIT & WISDOM – November 30, 1998