First Toothpaste in a Tube: Zonweiss (Johnson & Johnson)

One of the real pleasures of collecting vintage advertising is finding out the history of some of the ads you come across. I was thrilled to receive a September 1887 issue of Century magazine from a friend. It was a reading copy because someone had clipped the articles in it about the Civil War.

But..the ad section was clean and so perfect. It had the usual ads for Pears soap, Cashmere Bouquet and various medicines of a dubious nature. But behold, what was this ad for Zonweiss Cream for Teeth? And why this woman flying close to the moon with a brush?

Well, Margaret Gurowitz, chief Historian, Johnson & Johnson had the answers to some of my questions. It seems that Zonweiss was the first toothpaste marketed in a tube. I guess it was, technically, the first tooth "paste".

According to Margaret: The first ads for Zonweiss appeared in 1886, Johnson & Johnson’s first year in business, and our 1887 price list includes Zonweiss tooth cream as the Company’s first consumer product among the sterile surgical products and medicated plasters. Most teeth-cleaning products in 1886 were tooth powders: you had to dip a wet toothbrush into some tooth powder, or gently tap tooth powder onto your toothbrush (without accidentally tapping the container too hard and getting tooth powder all over the place) and then add water. As a tooth cream (roughly the same thing as toothpaste), Zonweiss eliminated that step and was a lot easier for consumers to use. It came in a cobalt-blue glass jar, with a tiny spoon for people to use in applying it to their toothbrushes — to avoid the unsanitary practice of having multiple people dipping their toothbrushes into the same jar.

The ad:

And read more from Margaret at Kilmer House HERE.  : http://www.kilmerhouse.com/2012/05/zonweiss-the-first-toothpaste-in-a-tube/ 

The first ads for Zonweiss appeared in 1886, Johnson & Johnson’s first year in business, and our 1887 price list includes Zonweiss tooth cream as the Company’s first consumer product among the sterile surgical products and medicated plasters. Most teeth-cleaning products in 1886 were tooth powders: you had to dip a wet toothbrush into some tooth powder, or gently tap tooth powder onto your toothbrush (without accidentally tapping the container too hard and getting tooth powder all over the place) and then add water. As a tooth cream (roughly the same thing as toothpaste), Zonweiss eliminated that step and was a lot easier for consumers to use. It came in a cobalt-blue glass jar, with a tiny spoon for people to use in applying it to their toothbrushes — to avoid the unsanitary practice of having multiple people dipping their toothbrushes into the same jar. - See more at: http://www.kilmerhouse.com/2012/05/zonweiss-the-first-toothpaste-in-a-tube/#sthash.zCP9njfx.dpuf