History

history
In 1806, William Colgate, himself a soap and candle maker, opened up a starch, soap and candle
factory on Dutch Street in New York City under the name of "William Colgate & Company". In
the 1840s, the firm began selling individual cakes of soap in uniform weights. In 1857, William
Colgate died and the company was reorganized as "Colgate & Company" under the management
of Samuel Colgate, his son. In 1872, Colgate introduced Cashmere Bouquet, a perfumed soap. In
1873, the firm introduced its first toothpaste, an aromatic toothpaste sold in jars. His company
sold the first toothpaste in a tube, Colgate Ribbon Dental Cream, in 1896. In 1896, Colgate hired
Martin Ittner and under his direction founded one of the first applied research labs[4]. By 1908
they initiated mass selling of toothpaste in tubes. His other son, James Boorman Colgate, was a
primary trustee of Colgate University (formerly Madison University).
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the "B.J. Johnson Company" was making a soap entirely of palm and
olive oil, the formula of which was developed by B.J. Johnson in 1898. The soap was popular
enough to rename their company after it - "Palmolive".[5] At the turn of the century Palmolive,
which contained both palm and olive oils, was the world's best-selling soap, and extensive
advertising included The Palmolive Hour, a weekly radio concert program which began in 1927
and Palmolive Beauty Box Theater which ran from 1934 to 1937. A Kansas-based soap
manufacturer known as the "Peet Brothers" merged with Palmolive to become Palmolive-Peet. In
1928, Palmolive-Peet bought the Colgate Company to create the Colgate-Palmolive-Peet
Company. In 1953 "Peet" was dropped from the title, leaving only "Colgate-Palmolive
Company", the current name.
Colgate-Palmolive has long been in fierce competition with Procter & Gamble, the world's
largest soap and detergent maker. P&G introduced its Tide laundry detergent shortly after World
War II, and thousands of consumers turned from Colgate's soaps to the new product. Colgate lost
its number one place in the toothpaste market when P&G started putting fluoride in its
toothpaste. In the beginning of television, "Colgate-Palmolive" wished to compete with Procter
& Gamble as a sponsor of soap operas. Although the company sponsored many shows in part,
they fully sponsored the serial The Doctors.
George Henry Lesch was president, CEO, and chairman of the board of Colgate-Palmolive in the
1960s and 1970s, during that time transformed it into a modern company with major
restructuring.
In 2005, Colgate sold the under-performing brands Fab, Dynamo, Arctic Power, ABC, Cold
Power and Fresh Start, as well as the license of the Ajax brand for laundry detergents in the U.S.,
Canada and Puerto Rico, to Phoenix Brands, LLC as part of their plan to focus on their higher
margin oral, personal, and pet care products.[6]
In 2006, Colgate-Palmolive announced the intended acquisition of Tom's of Maine, a leading

maker of natural toothpaste, for US $100 million. Tom's of Maine was founded by Tom Chappell
in 1970.
Today, Colgate has numerous subsidiary organisations spanning 200 countries, but it is publicly
listed in only two, the United States and India.
In June 2007, counterfeit Colgate toothpaste imported from China was found to be contaminated
with diethylene glycol, and several people in eastern U.S. reported experiencing headaches and
pain after using the product.[7] The tainted products can be identified by the claim to be
manufactured in South Africa by Colgate-Palmolive South Africa LTD, they are 5oz/100ml
tubes (a size which Colgate does not sell in the United States) and the tubes/packaging contain
numerous misspellings on their labels. Colgate-Palmolive claims that they do not import their
products from South Africa into the United States or Canada and that DEG is never and was
never used in any of their products anywhere in the world. The counterfeit products were found
in smaller "mom and pop" stores, dollar stores and discount stores in at least four states.[8]

History

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

History

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

History

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

history

In 2006, Colgate-Palmolive announced the intended acquisition of Tom's of Maine, a leading

You might also like