The smell...that "fragrance" seeping through your clothing and finding its way to the nostrils of those around you, those dreaded two letters...B and O...
Widespread use of deodorant in the United States did not occur until the 1950's...much longer for the French....and in some places on the planet it has never even become a concept. Women and Men smell...it's our natural make-up, and through much of History, that's exactly what we did. Body odor generally emanates from the armpit, the principle source for sweat, pheromones, and stink. In the early 20th century, one woman decided that she had a plan to fix it. Although not exactly a science chick, she would nevertheless bring the concept of smelling good to the forefront of American culture, and eventually, the World.
Up until the Victorian era of the late 19th-century, women attempted to combat the scent of B.O. with various perfumes that would to some extent mask the unpleasant smell. Men had no pretention, body odor was a sign of masculinity, and aside from the male nobility of Europe who pranced around court in make-up and high heels, a manly man had absolutely no interest in dousing himself in fragrance to hide a hard day's work.
Various different cremes, potions, lotions and devices were tried by the fairer sex to hide what must have been very pungent in hot and humid climes. One of these involved a pad that could be inserted under the arm beneath the clothing, perhaps spritzed with a bit of perfume. Creams and rub-on lotions were tried as well, but the acidity in these products tended to destroy clothing, or remained moist, never fully drying, causing discomfort. This was not popular, as clothing was very expensive to replace. On top of that, people didn't talk about what their bodies did...you didn't mention or speak about just how ripe Sally was on that hot, humid, sweaty day, or that she took too long in the outhouse....
Mum came in 1888, it was waxy, oily, a rub on, perfumed cream but not an anti-perspirant, that would have to wait until 1903 when Everdry made its debut. Aluminum chloride was the magic chemical that kept the sweat at bay, but this main ingredient had a devastating side effect...when triggered with the acidity of perspiration, it made hydrochloric acid which ate holes in clothes and irritated the skin....not to mention it was messy, never fully dried and was troublesome to use overall.
Nothing much changed across the American landscape when it came to the scent of sweat, nothing that is, until 1912...
Edna Murphey's father was a surgeon. In an effort to combat sweaty hands, a less than desirable thing whilst holding a scalpel and administering delicate, precise cuts, Dr. Abraham d. Murphey developed a cream to rub on the palms that would block it. Edna was creative, and smeared some of this under her arms and discovered that her underarm sweat problem was no more. She saw a product that could be marketed, the name...Odorono. It's clever play on "odor...o no". In 1910 she began selling the product door to door with a team of saleswomen and to local Cincinnati drug stores. It was a bust. Odorono wasn't just another cream like Everdry, it was a liquid, but suffered in the eyes of the consumer from the same type of concept with the same problems. Although it was effective at blocking underarm sweat and stink, Odorono still ate through the underarm of dresses, and it was dyed red, so it was feared by the consumer that it would stain clothing as well.
The instructions called for it to be put on three times a week at night and dusted with talcum powder, that way it had a chance to dry by morning. That, combined with the medical profession coming out and saying that blocking pores in a lady's pits was dangerous and un-healthy, almost guaranteed that Edna's product would have less than stunning sales. Odorono was being returned, unsold and unused. This whole thing was seen as a feminine problem. Men were not even considered remotely as a consumer for underarm anti-perspirant. Men were expected to smell like a hard days work, and most men in America spent their days in jobs that were labor intensive.
Edna Murphey needed to make her Cincinnati business national and break the bounds of the market beyond Ohio.
Atlantic City is hot and humid, and the summer of 1912 was no exception. There were nine medical associations meeting here over the course of May and June, a convention that Edna was sure not to miss. Here booth attracted attention, slowly at first, but as the heat and humidity ratcheted up the sweat level, people began to notice Odorono, and they started to buy it, use it, and cut deals to sell it. Edna Murphey had her start. Her product was not without controversy, it still was noting more than a liquid made mostly of aluminum chloride, and her company was continually under this shadow which the American Medical Association had labeled a dangerous product in 1913, among other things like its liability to cause skin irritation and in extreme case, skin ulcers. Nevertheless, vanity, and the desire of women to not have to smell on a really hot and humid summer day, trumped the side effects. by 1915, Edna's business was booming.
She constructed her own factory and office, the product was beginning to be offered internationally, and the time was right for a huge advertising campaign and push to make it the top anti-perspirant product in the United States. In 1914, Odor-o-no was renamed Odo-ro-no, easier to pronounce...same dangerous product. Yet, sales were strong, despite the risks posed to a woman's health. There had been some advertising on her part since 1912, but not at a level a professional advertising could provide. The J. Walter Thompson agency was hired in 1914 after Murphey took out a loan for $50,000 dollars, a tremendous sum for the time, and James Young was given the account to direct and manage. Young was a man with absolutely no advertising experience, a one time bible salesman, and he only got the job because he was the friend of a friend of a manager at the agency. Mr. Young might have eluded the pages of history had he simply been nameless, faceless, one of many in the advertising business. James W. Young might have clung to anonymity had it not been for his revolutionary advertising innovations, developed and employed for Odo-ro-no, so called whisper-copy.
A new concept, whisper-copy is an advertising strategy seeking to create the illusion of a candid and frank conversation with the consumer on topics friends, family or acquaintances were too polite to personally address with you, like the scent of a woman on a hot and sweaty day. It was brilliant, but not without problems. In many cases, it was so frank, publication in which these advertisements for Odo-ro-no appeared were outright cancelled by subscribers. Sensibilities were still rather tender in the age before Jazz. Despite the uncomfortable nature of the advertising, shame sold product. By 1920 profits were tremendous...spending $270,000 on just advertisements, up from $14,000 in 1914. Advertising was the main generator, as the company only staffed four full-time salesmen by 1920. Whisper-copy worked...James Young and his ideas became the driving model advertising "sensitive" products, and the main reason for financial success. It was not the only anti-perspirant around, products like Mum were still in business, but they all witnessed Edna Murphey's successful marketing and rushed to copy the "shaming" strategy pioneered by Odo-ro-no.
Odo-ro-no was sold by Edna in 1927. She went on to develop and market herbal beauty concoctions, decades ahead of this industry in today's market. The product itself had grown into its original formula, a lighter less potent version, soothing powders to combat the destructive skin irritation caused by the main ingredient, aluminum chloride, as well as deodorant powders and mixes that were not anti-perspirants. The products continued to grow throughout the 1930s, but as the 1950s dawned, other delivery innovations began to take shape, like roll-on deodorants and anti-perspirants, getting their inspiration from of all things, the ball-point pen. With such convenience came acquiescence by men, who began to use the products that had for decades been considered feminine. By the 1970s, and the introduction of aerosol or spray-on anti-perspirants, both women and men were using it on a daily basis. Odo-ro-no was even panned by Pete Townshend of the Who with his parody song Odorono in 1967, a modern take on the Whisper-copy concept.
References
Bennett, J. (2023). Odorono. Cosmetics and Skin. https://www.cosmeticsandskin.com/companies/odorono.php
Suess, J. (2017). Our History: Odorono ads made us realize we needed deodorant. The Enquirer. https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2017/02/14/odorono-ads-made-us-realize-we-needed-deodorant/97922010/