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Lestoil makes Water Wetter

Posted by Bob on January 07, 2006

In Reply to: Lestoil makes Water Wetter posted by Bruce Kahl on January 06, 2006

: : : : : : Does anyone remember the commercial phrase: "Lestoil makes Water Wetter?"
: : : : : : Any input on this?

: : : : : I remember the tagline for this product as;
: : : : : "There's less toil with Lestoil".

: : : : : I do remember the Water Wetter tag but can not associate it with Lestoil.

: : : : You didn't exactly ask, but the way you make water wetter is by using a wetting agent. It reduces surface tension, enabling the water to wet things more easily. It's not the same as a water softener, in case you wondered. SS

: : : I must be old. I do remember the introduction of Lestoil, and "it makes water wetter," and its lets-explain-detergency ad campaign. Animated diagrams of dirt particles being emulsified by the new magic stuff, and the punch line (by some animated character?) saying "I've never been so emulsified in my life!"

: : Bob is a youngster. I remember when wetting agents were introduced. Then they became surfactants, and then they became the key ingredients of detergents. The chemistry has been the same, no matter what the current name. SS

: On a not so related note I used to sell non-slip floorwax to churches via telephone in a boiler room. During the day to industry it was called Industra Gloss but in the evenings to the churches we called it Eterna Gloss.
: I'm gonna burn for that one.

"I;ve never been so emulsified in all my life" became a catchphrase for a while in the '50s (a Google search finds a stray use or two of it to this day, probably by ancient folk like Smokey, Bruce, and me.). The animated character used the vocal style of Bert Lahr, who sued. I believe he lost, but I'm too lazy to look it up. A few decades later, some commercial enterprise wanted to use the distinct style of Bette Midler. When her price was deemed too high, they hired someone to imitate her. She sued, and won, in a landmark case. Don't that make the water wetter.

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