The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 481 - Selling Shame
Episode Date: May 18, 2021Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine women's deodorant and antiperspirant.SourcesTour DatesRedbubble Merch...
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out how much at Airbnb.ca slash host. Okay one two three four you're listening to
the dollop on the all things comedy network this is a bilingual American
history podcast or each week I man who has a child the place baseball who wants
to punch other people have children who play baseball in the face. Eater of
sandwiches maker of love Dave Anthony reads a story from American history to
my friend. And Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is going to be
about and congratulations on not fighting the other parents Dave I know
how tough that is. There's still time there's still I mean look the league
just ended tonight but there's still time I can still find this guy in the
streets. Okay so compliment rescind it and retract it. And called it quote his jam
pad. Jam pad? I'm the fucking hippo guy. Dave okay. My name's Gary. My name's Gary. Wait. Is it for fun? And this is not going to come to Tickly Podcast. Okay. This is like Adam. I'm a five-part
coefficient. Now hit him with the puppy. You both present sick arguments. Don't sleep down hippo. That's like down hippo. Action partner. Hi Gary. No. I sleep down my friend. No. No.
Ronda. Ronda in the park.
Um alright let's just start this dumb episode. Oh boy there we go that's where
we need you. That's a bad night. I don't like I don't like having a grown man make
my kid cry. Well how about if a grown man makes you laugh. Come on. Take my hand
you little baby girl. 1888 here by Lord Jesus Christ. Sure. An unknown
inventor in Philadelphia created a waxy cream that had a small amount of an
antibacterial zinc oxide. Okay. So a man created a weird a weird wax. A poison wax
it sounds like. He's created the first deodorant. Oh okay. Interesting. It was
trademarked. It was known as mum. Mum? Mum. M-U-M. Mum. As in like. Not like the
British version of mum. I call it mum. Hello. Hi Miss Mum. I'm here to keep you
from stinking. I've got bad breath. So it as in keeping silent as in mum's the
word. Right. So yes it's mumming your B-O. It's like shh. Quiet. Quiet body. It's
more it's more mumming in the sense that people did not like to discuss these
sorts of things. It wasn't something you would talk about. Isn't it just amazing
though because we've talked about the smells of history and I mean the B-O
like through the pandemic I multi you know I wore deodorant probably eight
times and there would be times where I would catch a whiff of myself and be
like good God and I that was that is someone who bathed regularly and I
still and so I can't imagine what the chorus of stink that must have just been
coming off people and then the fact that they are like opposed to talking about
it like wouldn't you be like hey so I stopped stinking did you know you gotta
hear about this shit you know how everyone smells fucking horrible there's
a solution well there is there actually is a solution it's just bathing and
washing your underarms so I think that it wasn't as bad okay so okay it was very
bad manners to mention a woman's smell sure and you just didn't mention that
everyone pretended like women didn't sweat or smell or fart or whatever like
they're like that's just not a thing because it's Victorian times they just
want to see them as these creatures to be lusted after they are orifice less
angels the woman poos through her pores slowly the poo does not come out of her
she just dies and then the poo is removed at the end there's a poo angel who
sucks it through her so any talking about women as like human beings who
farted and and had body odor and that that harmed the desire of men so it
wasn't right I mean and that's there's that standard still exists in some
capacity but even in that time the men must have just been like I mean just
walking latrines as such you know what I'm like they were probably oh allowed
to stink and yeah yeah we're a hundred percent allowed to smell that was just
like there's a stinky woman the other night oh shit oh my god look my armpits
bleeding that was me I mean man man's odor body odor at that time was like
considered manly like you stunk and you were a manly man yeah so the result of
course was that women did not want to be seen sweating in public right just
always about to explode from gas that's right Americans and then get home and
just be like setting Guinness book records how was your date Ophelia it was
fine oh dear it's almost done you're out there a long time two days I've been
submitted with him push my tummy so Americans had long been reluctant to
bathe but with the germ theory they'd come around that changed and by the late
19th century Americans are now like let's get rid of the filth and the
smells that we've got everywhere and they started taking showers around this
time and using toothbrushes sewers and water mains were put in houses were built
with bathrooms so it's a it's a whole process is taking place a cleaner sort
of situation but there was still the odor that came off the body right that
was a different thing and with people starting to work together more and more
and crowded conditions odor became a social problem sure the perspiring odor
and people had worried people had worried about how they had smelled for
centuries perfumes were used by the ancient Egyptians and the Greeks and so
it the people being concerned about how they smelled it's been around for a
while okay but the big difference is now that more people are living in closer
conditions than they ever have in the history of the world right it's
industrialization it's all this is cities are much more dense right and then
1988 like I said mom yeah sorry 1888 mom came and I'm gonna read you some ad
copy for mom oh great perfect quote men do talk about girls behind their back
although they won't admit it is a girl pretty a good sport a smooth dancer the
answer quickly goes the rounds they talk about other things too about the girls
they hate to dance with the girls they simply won't take out for a girl must
be more than pretty and smart she'll never make a hit with men unless she
is truly sweet nice to be near unpopularity often begins with the
first hint of underarm odor hmm so it's so true and and it's it's just I mean
again it's it's a threat right I mean it's basically like want to be an
unlovable husk walk around town stinky hey you dirt filth woman pig yeah put on
something that smells good and for so long societies but basically going like
don't let anyone know how much you stink and now they're like everyone's
laughing at your stink yeah that's pretty much right okay that's a good
catchy yeah it's very catchy obviously you know that puts all the onus on the
woman to fix yourself right yes now like I said before mom armpit odor was
usually just dealt with by using perfumes you just put perfume on you and
then at some point in the 1800s they started putting cotton pads or rubber
pads in their armpits sure a face a face I wish was still here that you a little
hole well let me put my rubber pits in there we are tackle the day so they
would those would I can't reach above my shoulders for anything I've got a
McCain range well those would protect the clothes from showing that they were
sweating which like imagine New York in the fucking summer and you and you have
to hide your sweating like what good luck or Florida I believe it to be
impossible yeah it's just like are you human yeah so then you're like armpits
are just dry while the rest of you soaking like I didn't notice how human it
had gotten fucking very normal the way it doesn't do anything here well look
obviously I'm a beautiful woman who is no boy that's up the rubber is really it's
pulling some of my skin no rubber what rubber there's no rubber I'm a lady who
is just enchanting and then just imagine going home and taking out your
cotton pad I feel so rip off my stink disk so mom was a cream and you would
rub it into the armpit using your fingers sure but not many people are
interested and those that were it left a sticky greasy residue on their clothes so
now those are your options right you want to you want to you want to smell
better but now you're getting like a greasy stain under your arm and your
clothing grease me up others didn't like rubbing it in with their fingers most
people thought mom wasn't necessary and not really healthy like there were a
lot of people that thought no sweating is good and why are we getting rid of
this right they wash regularly and they throw on perfume so why did they need
mom also mom itself had a weird smell oh that's well okay bad okay so bad
business model I mean like so we stink a little bit differently than your body
it's still an odor hey this smells like pine and dog why don't you put it on
your under there you are have some dog log oh you're gonna love this hat air put
on that's put on some mom that smell of wet wood is just gonna intoxicate all
those around you historian Julian Silvoca quote this was still very much a
Victorian society nobody talked about perspiration or any other bodily
functions in public sneezing in public was frowned upon so okay but they had
like outhouses yeah I mean I don't really understand I mean I think it's the
kind of thing you probably have to live into fully experience like what that I
don't feeling was against you know bodily functions but yeah they had outhouses
and and this is a time when they're starting to get bathrooms so bathrooms
are much more in America there's more bathrooms and more plumbing because
that's kind of you're building out in America whereas in England you have to
refit your already house that's been around for 500 years you know right
you're redoing everything was in America it's very easy to have bathrooms right
in England they were just like such a bother we'll live under the bucket system
for another century that's all right in 1903 ever dry was invented it was the
first anti-perspirant right okay it was made with aluminum chloride and you
would dab it on using a cotton swab okay but it didn't work great it took a long
long long time to dry and it caused so you're basically just putting stuff on
and then I guess just holding up your arms someone's just blowing giving a pit
blows it would cause a big mess and it also stung well they're really I mean
yeah it's I mean it's like cavemen with fire look it took a minute they're on
the path you know but then now like we're just like well it hurts and that's a
problem it smells better but now it's burning people it would also destroy
clothes by eating through them it stopped sweating by clogging pores right
with aluminum yeah yeah with aluminum so it's clogging
or is it it lasts for probably three days once you get it on there but it's
eating through your clothes so you have a non-smelling like a whole you have
like jagged aluminum shards like a can explode you have like canned shrapnel
under your arms yeah it's not it's really not good yeah I'm this this I'm
out of so in 2008 sorry in 1910 a surgeon in Cincinnati Dr. Abraham Murphy was
looking for something to stop hands from sweating during surgery okay Jesus Christ
this is as if they didn't have enough uphill battles going on people like you
know we're also prone to slippery utensils whoops I dropped another scalpel in
this lady oh boy yeah so he created his own liquid antiperspirant an aluminum
chloride solution that plug pores okay and he trademarked trademarked it in
1909 so he must have started before 1910 whatever so now Dr. Murphy had he has a
teenage daughter in high school named Edna Murphy and she starts using it on
her armpits because she finds out what her dad's done and it works okay and it
stops sweating and it stops body odor and she starts giving it to her friends
and then she's like we should sell this yeah yes agreed so Edna decided she was
gonna sell it to the world and she named it Adorno or actually that's the word
but the the way she wanted it said was odor oh no
Adorno oh no so she's in high school yeah yeah it's like yeah I mean we don't
expect her marketing to be fabulous but no we don't it's a lot it's a lot to
Adorno so she borrows a hundred fifty dollars from her grandfather and she
starts a company it's about five grand today okay it doesn't go really well at
first she rents an office and hired a door-to-door sales team made up of all
women okay because she's only focusing on women right focusing on men of course
they're they're perfect it is their world they're there to be pleased not to
please what is there to change and we're pretty perfect has anyone seen my
tweets that's well it's like I said it's because under our martyrs it's
considered to be a manly smell sure women were supposed to be ashamed of I
again by men men were like man women when they smell it's horrible when we
smell men fucking awesome when I smell us we're bears yeah dudes are like I
smell great yeah but apparently anti-perspirant wasn't something people
wanted from a door-to-door saleswoman again because of the taboo nature I
think it's also because a lot of people thought sweating shouldn't be be
prevented it was unnatural to do it she starts promoting it in the papers the
ads are pretty typical for the time I've read you ads yeah from from that time
and medical ads and newspapers are pretty crazy back then so here's an
example quote adorno is or odor oh no no is necessary to every dainty and
economical woman indispensable to women whose clothes are quickly ruined by
perspiration stains and this is something some women do want because
they're using pads under their arms for sweating so some women do want it right a
lot don't so it's not it's making some money it's not bringing in enough money
so Edna has to give up the office and move the business into her parents
basement but she is I mean the name is horrible it's a terrible name yeah it's
a horrendous name and and then so she tries to get drugstores to carry it
she's like would you like to try oh odor oh no I mean I don't know I don't know
about odor no no odor oh no I don't know yeah and it's just um I don't know a lot
of a lot of so so say we odor oh no I'm reading the package yeah yeah so you
don't know I don't know take a pause after the oh take a pause I don't know if
you're allowed to give line readings on how to it's I'm just looking at the label
I don't know I'm just saying for your customers when they want to buy it you
say odor oh no and then they'll I just don't think they're gonna want to hear
me say that I just think that that's not what it is you made it read odor no
odor oh no that was it where wonderful where you said it the second to last
one you said it perfectly out there I know yeah oh no no no odor no what I
don't know no it's good now we've got back the other way it's not that's good
again I just hate the name I hate the name yeah it's really why not call it
stink nope that's not that's not I don't know if ladies would enjoy that I'm a
lady I don't know if I would enjoy how about nice pit glue
something like that like maybe a odor oh no buying it oh no okay my way of
passing it's a cute way of passing and I'm passing okay come back when you've
got a regular name you know like no more shit pit okay I don't want to be in
here anymore yeah monster that area is just a weird little gross cavern you know
gross that's a good name how about no this isn't a pitch session on the
just we're having a little fun you like a milk you want a milk no I don't want
milk I don't think we're having fun I'm having a blast I've never had more fun
with a person so I think it could be something maybe just like it it's it no
more no oh hey here's what it is fuck Tom you smell like shit take it pretty
good we have over three times are coming here for so sure enough the guys who
own the drug stores didn't want to have it in their store or or they put it in
their store and no one bought it in the end it's the upset because people are
like oh dare I don't know yeah it really if you look at the package you don't know
what the fuck it's saying right so it's it's it's ODORONO so it's not no like
she didn't put an eight if you wanted you should put an H in a dash but she
whatever okay yeah yeah like for she's like 14 yeah again she's 14 so let's
just remember that so it's looking like a mad product like much like ever dry was
or mom I mean mom's still around but it's just not selling great it's just
sputtering along so Edna's bummed and quote over for over three years I
hardly moved out of the house and I cannot recall accepting a single social
invitation yet at every stage of development there was an increased
inspiration from users and along with it increased discouragement it costs so
much to make a new user it took so long to convince anyone that checking
perspiration would not affect their health man so there's just all these
people that say it's yeah it's just the same I mean it just it is the same I
mean I don't I don't I think that plucking up your pores is bad like I
always do a top cruise did have all the glands removed good lord let's be
sensible about this oh my god that's fine to do it's fine to do it didn't help
the doctors were against antiperspirants they thought the body should
naturally a lot of people are acting crazy but what they don't understand is
that these things will murder you in 1912 Edna went to an exposition in
Atlantic City okay it's during the summer and the people attending are hot and
sweaty because it's the Atlantic City at first not much interest she had a booth
no one really seemed to care odor oh no company history I mean oh no in your
title is just not good no it's bad this is from the company history quote the
exhibition demonstrator could not sell any odor oh no at first and wired back to
Edna to send some cold cream to cover expenses okay the exhibition was for the
entire summer in the booth stayed there and the heat got worse and then people
started sweating through their clothes and suddenly people started asking about
odor oh no and telling each other about it when they used it and buying it okay
smart and then it starts to take off and people from all over the country are
interested and she rings up 30,000 in sales wow which it today is 1.5 billion
dollars I mean I didn't look it up today but it's probably over a million I
would imagine Jesus Christ yeah I mean like once it I guess these expositions
are almost like a trade show yeah but it's almost more than that because it's
like it's like what like a Twitter sort of like what happened at the it's like a
shark tank convention yes you like Twitter better how you how you were
unpacking it yes it is also very much that but let's go to the other one that
works better okay so it's 843,000 dollars so it's a good chunk of money so it
still needs a boost it's still it's still not out to take it really big it
definitely has problems odor oh no is not without its issues sure it stops what
it stops wet for three days wow which is longer longer than antiperspirants do
today yeah because it plugged the sweat gland pores okay plugged them up right
for a lunatic for aluminum chloride to work like this it had to be suspended in
acid Jesus so it's an acid concoction and acid obviously not great for armpits
right yeah and that meant odor oh no is really irritating armpit skin which is
like one of the least like if you fucking you ever had to use crutches I've gotten
the crutches down there you ever use crutches you're just like I need us
what can we put on my armpits to get them through this too yeah cast under
there they just like just shoot me instead of hurt leg the rash so oh it
also really damages clothes it just like ever dry so again remind me of the
upside it just doesn't make you smell as bad that's what this one is now
achieving yeah it's getting rid of the armpit odor you're right but just by
like painting you essentially and then on top of those other things it's also
red colored so it stains clothes so everyone's just walking around with pit
periods so people like oh my god your armpit is bleeding has begun I knew it
would come one day so people are having their clothes ruined by the acid it's
just burning right through clothes so you've just got these armpit holes and
then it's just red underneath that and it's red from those sore armpit like so
and there were there's just giant red stains under the pit so customers are
complaining of burning and inflamed armpits sure some women stopped using
it but others said they knew was working because it does burn well we are just
such a complicated species it's amazing that everyone will take a position like
there's every position will be taken I know I mean pain it's terrible that's
why I know this is good I've always wanted to convince people I'm bleeding
from where I'm not a lot of fancy outfits are destroyed by odor oh no
including a bride's wedding dress on her wedding day but some some women said
they would rather just buy new clothes than have armpit wow they're like this
is better than just smelling okay so odorano suggested that customers shave
before putting it on and so men were like take the moustache off now I'm
ready shot oh you meant the ball the ball I don't understand the correlation
between shaving my balls and having better pits but hell I'm up for anything
there we go they also said to put it on before you went to bed which would give
it adequate time to dry completely yeah it's like a fresh coat of paint so yeah
so there's some issues it's not the perfect product right right it's not
like a speed stick by men and which is sure what you use sure excuse me lime
lime flavored I would think what are you you're saying that's what I use or you're
just saying I'm saying that's what you use that I use limed flavored speed stick
yeah that's what I think it feels like ax ax body spray did I use lime ax yeah I
think you use lime ax body spray yeah that's for sure I'm very I mean I am a
limey yep so these are all issues she obviously PR could help right sure so
she she hires a New York ad agency the J. Walter Thompson company and they end up
booking her I love that they're a marketing company and their name is so
bland isn't it the worst like they couldn't change it anything they're not
like Excalibur marketing like where this guy's name marketing the ad geniuses
no what about J. Walter Thompson company yeah well wow boom they hooked her up
with a fresh young copywriter named James young he had recently opened the
company Cincinnati office a new hot shot sort of new hot shot he had no
advertising experience before he was hired to be an ad man he had been a
door-to-door Bible salesman so in a lot of ways your product is very similar to
the book of God both speak of you know red red red fluid you know I also find
that it's a miracle and that's a big part of the Bible so there's a lot of
miracles um plus you know um you know I would say there's a correlation between
us or you know leprosy to some extent and then having your arm be you know
basically you useless from rash so uh to me it is it is a Bible for your armpit
as what I think we should call it okay yeah call it that yeah no I'm just
saying Jesus cream it's probably good you know something like that like um that
doesn't seem that seems like it might offend people you're putting it on your
armpit yeah no no but it is it's you know okay how about the body of Christ
no pit gods uh Satan stink out ye bastard oh yeah um Abraham and no
and behold it was Abraham so so he like I said he's a Bible salesman he got the
ad job because he knew a guy he had an old childhood friend who was dating a
manager at jay walker Thompson and through that connection he got the job
hey I have my friend he sells Bibles it's such a crazy way I mean he must have
he they must have been like write up some ad copy for a product because he
wouldn't get hired but I mean he's the head guy that he's the he's opening the
new break break for this guy yeah he's like I know Frank like that's his whole
well what are we gonna do we're not gonna find a bunch of people to know Frank
this guy's good so first his ads took on the crazy crazy idea that blocking
sweating wasn't healthy that's like the main thing that keeps coming up people
like you shouldn't be blocking sweating and his copy first tried to make it
seem like odor oh no wasn't bad for your health I love that he's keeping the name
this just hired he's like well the name isn't the problem no we're keeping the
name because it's perfect we haven't had any backlash except for all the drug
store owners and then a bunch of women the only issues that people don't get
what it is which that's an easy hurdle to get over so he writes up these this ad
copy it says it was created by a doctor and that excessive sweating was an
embarrassing medical condition that needed a cure and that cure was odor oh no
okay interesting it worked okay sales shot up to 65,000 a year and it wasn't
now just being sold in America people in England are buying it people in Cuba
were buying it the two islands so it's taken off on the island world yeah of
course this one on for a while English we're probably putting it on potatoes
like oh love a bit of cream love a bit of cream hey put on the Irish fellow
love a bit of cream oh that's nice in 1919 sales start dropping again or
flatlining or just you know they're not picking up so James Young had to come up
with a new ad focus or he was gonna lose the odor oh no contract okay now the ad
company conducted a door-to-door survey survey and from this they learned that
just about every woman had heard of odor oh no hmm of the women though only a
third had used it two-thirds feel like they didn't need it and it's the vaccine
it's the back it is the back seat I'll be fine without it yeah so these insane
women think they're okay the way they are that's they're like I'm I'm fine the
way I am which is just a crazy idea and you don't want people to start having
that expectation oh god it gives me the willies you're flawed by your way out of
this so James had to turn those two-thirds of women into customers right
that means he has to convince 66% of women that sweating was a seriously wrong
through thing a real fucking embarrassment okay he concluded he had to
present sweating as a social indiscretion one that you were committing but that
people would not tell you was the reason you weren't popular so again the
silent judgment of others is the marketing angle yes 100% at the same
time he wanted to push that these people were happy to talk about you behind
your back about your swell your smell situation but just not to you because
that wouldn't be polite odor oh no everyone's mocking you for women
normally body bodily functions must be hidden as we said so James would find
he would find women these women and make them feel bad about their normal
bodily function nice undesirable their sweat is offensive blobby blah so y'all
James shame an ad comes out that he's written in 1919 in the ladies home
journal hey you sticky pieces of shit listen up why do you keep ignoring God's
way he's got a fix for you quit denying your destiny everyone thinks you suck
they just won't tell you god you're a sticky asshole ain't nobody gonna want
to fuck you Gladys come on clean it up clean that shit up woman your armpits is
nasty like someone someone dragged a wet dog under there and you're all like I'm
pretty you like you like dog you got three butt cracks and two are under your
arms you nasty so the the ad it look and then again this how a lot of a lot of
ads were back there it just it looks like if you're reading an old newspaper
you you start reading something like oh wait this is an ad it's just mixed in
we're getting back there I mean that's like that's always amazing like in the
paper it's just like can you believe all these amazing shoes what happens a lot
in newsreaders where you flip something you be like oh wait this is yeah yeah
but it's presented I can't believe this guy invented a pill out of chia wait a
minute the fuck is this why am I buying it yeah so this this ad like it looks
like you turn a page and it's a full page and it looks like it looks like an
article with a headline okay and the pictures of a man and a woman clearly
about to get involved in a little romance maybe and the top headline reads
quote within the curve of a woman's arm a frank discussion of a subject too often
avoided oh my god and like I said it looks exactly like an article James then
goes hard it into why women needed to realize they absolutely fucking stink
the opening quote a woman's arm exclamation point poets have sung of
a grace artists have painted its beauty it should be the daintiest sweetest thing
in the world and yet unfortunately it isn't always there's an old offender in
this quest for perfect daintiness an offender of which we ourselves may be
ever so unconscious but is truly present so it's it's reading like a public
service announcement articles sort of and the basic idea that he gives up and
it's a it's long the basic idea is women might be giving off a horrible offensive
order but have no fucking idea that so it's like it's like you don't even know
you fucking smell you're a gas leak yeah yeah I I mean look it's like sex sells
but so does fear 100% and these were and these were called scare copy I mean
that from the from the things I said in the newspaper stuff it's called this is
kind of both it's like well he's amending a new type of copy actually this is
actually gonna be called the whisper copy whisper copy so it's like you're
confident you're it's a it's a confidential whisper that you're doing
to someone I want to pull you aside I'm an article in the paper so so they're
basically saying that you have an offensive order no idea and that's
because there didn't have to be any sweat quote it is the chemicals of the
body not uncleanliness that cause odor and even though there is no active
perspiration no apparent moisture there may be under her arms an odor unnoticed
by ourselves but distinctly noticeable to others for it is a physiological fact
that persons troubled with perspiration odor sell them can detect it themselves
that's right yep so what this feeds into is every woman who is like white why
doesn't Roger like me or every woman that's like right aren't why aren't that
group of girls inviting me out every person that has any sort of insecurity
now they're all thinking we know the answer it's cuz you're a stinky piece
of shit I'm a stinky piece what are you sticky pieces and what are all your
friends doing and why wouldn't George fornicate with you that one night is
stinky piece of shit and you are a stinky piece of shit
god damn I wish there was an answer there is it's called odor I know so
basically if you want a man you better not have body odor right and you
probably so we're like this is what all the French men left America does you
know it's actually it's a thing indeed so they're actually you know you have a
perfect system and said in me you know well so so they're saying you can't have
a man if you have body odor but you have body odor so they're saying you have to
fucking fix it right American women you smell terrible people are they're saying
people are leaving rooms to get away from and there's all these ads are
happening like people they're leaving rooms to get away from you and refer
madness for B.O. yeah no one's telling you because everyone's polite in society
and then James coins it he calls it B.O. he calls it body odor wow so he's the
guy who came up with B.O. it's effective now because discussing body fluids was
just not something was done in 1919 the ad causes a stir right around 200 women
when this ad comes out around 200 women subscribers to the lady ladies home
journal are so offended that they immediately cancel their subscription
okay and it doesn't matter because odor ono is selling right James was using
what will be what we know is scare copy and turning it into whisper copy and
women that James knew in his social circle stop talking to him wow because
he declared war on like the gender essentially well he essentially yeah he
declared war on like your yeah he's saying you the way you are as a person is
psychological B.O. warfare it's all these women are offended but enough women are
like that that must be what's going on right yeah and so a woman copywriter who
worked at J Walker Thompson told James he had insulted every woman in America I'm
sorry I can't see past your stink lines and it doesn't matter because it's an
extremely effective ad right sale shoot up 112% in 1920 Wow so odor ono is now
bringing $417,000 a year wow and in today's money that is 13 trillion much
more more more than that it's a higher amount exactly $13 trillion so as soon
as the ad campaign is successful odor ono's competitors jump on the make
women feel insecure to sell products bandwagon and the idea is to just scare
people at the buying products that stopped underarm sweating right mom which
is still around had campaigns with headlines like quote no matter no matter
how attractive you are and even the most attractive women's personal daintiness
and charm are easily marred by perspiration odor James Young is
continually cranking out new ads he wrote one ad that looked like it was
advice coming from a matron of a finishing school oh my lord every whatever
young girl should know it literally is a picture of a woman is guiding another
woman along yeah it's just the craziest thing to read and it's all like hey
here's the deal don't smell yeah man and his company is so well is doing so well
she moves out of her parent's basement into a small factory that she has built
just for the company and an office it's all hopefully those workers are working
too hard stinking up you know yeah no there's I'm sure there's a rule you have
to you all have to wear odor oh no yeah right and it just keeps increasing in
1927 the company is making a million per year in 1929 Edna sells odor oh no to
Northam warn for 3.5 million okay and now they're not gonna they're not about
to cut James loose after all his success right now yeah he's a propagandist after
all at first the campaigns were a bit subtle that whisper copies a little
subtle subtler than it could bend sure right but by the 1930s these this shit
has just hit you over the fucking head just stupid attack stuff okay one
example quote beautiful but dumb she has never learned the first rule of long
lasting charm then there was an illustration of a good-looking but
seriously bond out woman quote the world and any eligible eligible bachelor in
it could be hers but they're not and all because it is never a piece of shit it
has never done out her that she needs a long lasting perspiration check to stay
appealing and dainty every girl needs a long lasting deodorant
ah I mean it's yeah it's not like a jar of olives like you know what I mean like
you're not it's not it's just yeah I mean I get why it's effective yeah it is
good marketing yeah look if you're insecure about yourself pretty why won't
men talk to her she's a stinky piece of shit she doesn't know it but she's a
big stinky piece of shit look at this pretty pretty pretty she has smelly
gross little piggy what's wrong with this woman who has a hog smell so by the
thirties there were now three types of odor oh no regular and instant so that
must have gone on and dried quick I guess and then it also came in ice form
also we have the ice version so well that's gone it's just water now but get
it home fast that's for your cocktails seeps in what is ice version it's just a
nice menthol I think it's you buy it yeah you buy it frozen you keep in your
freezer frozen yeah I think it's just it's a girl you can use it it's really
great mommy I'm gonna eat more of these Jesus Christ don't eat those I can't
taste anything oh god you've got aluminum in your tongue those are for
mommy listen let's say now the worst part is mommy's going out tonight and
she's gonna be a stinky piece of shit look God your mouth is so nice smelling
whoa if only your mouth with a person it would be married what's weirdest I just
ain't ass and you can't even smell it wait a second nine that's not well dog
ass oh my god so there's obviously parenting's taken a sidestep to my own
personal hygiene which in retrospect has not served you well okay so this is a
1937 mum ad talking to a woman who doesn't use deodorant quote you're a
pretty girl Mary and you're smart about most things but you're just a bit
stupid about yourself you look wait now we we've literally come like you were
joking about it yeah now they are now they're just saying exactly what you're
joke was we need you to come over here here at stinky pieces of shit we protect
women who smell so bad hey can I talk to you a minute you fucking idiot hey you
stupid asshole you've done pretty good playing the limbo of society but you
done fucked up when it comes to pit health that's why you're lonely alright so
to continue on you love a good time but you seldom have one evening after
evening you sit at home oh my god you've met several grand men who seem
interested at first they took you out once and that was that there are so
many pretty Marys in the world who never seem to sense the real reason for
their aloneness in this smart modern age it's against the code for a girl or man
either to carry the repellent odor of underarm perspiration on clothing and
person it's a fault which never fails to carry its own punishment unpopularity
right all right but it's a jingle so let's go
let's get it right so if you noticed in there there was a little or a man either
right so it's it's the late 30s and they've realized they're leaving having
been so effective yeah having been so effective on women oh my god we're
leaving half of the buying public out so now they're starting to target men hey
men by the way you're not not stinky pieces of shit who's a little piggy
too yeah huh this whole time women were getting better smelling they started
talking behind your backs they what that's right that's what we used to do
to them well now they're doing it to you you know why cuz they smell good and I
smell like but take your piece of shit I guess I'll you what fuck pigs ah I guess
I use some other known so the companies rise men should also understand they
stink and they it started snarky and focused on it focused on women but
they would throw in shit like I just read in the last ad right and like ads that
read quote women it's time to stop lead letting your man be smelly when you buy
buy two so they're like they're just like pitting the genders against each
other and and they're going and you know this is now a woman's product so it's
it's like oh it's like trying to talk men into one lipstick in a way well I
always remember the secret commercial where it was strong enough for a man but
pH balance for a woman where I was even as a child always weird always was
strange to me always super strange to me but that came directly out of this right
yeah right yeah right but a hundred percent when I was a kid I was just
like what are you talking like why never made sense to yeah I was like so it's for
a man no but it's strong enough for a man right so should I use it well you
good no could you if you were to use it it would work out for you but it's not
for you it's pH balance for a woman strong enough for a man so Jay Walker
Thompson was focused on men starting in 1928 they realized that they should go
after him in 1928 and they took a survey of the male employees that worked at the
entire company not a biased group no to discover what they thought about
deodorants and add an antiperspirants these are some of the answers quote I
consider a body deodorant for masculine used to be sysified it was sorry one
more time I consider a body deodorant for masculine use to be sysified okay
this guy is guys like I ain't no girl last time another quote I'd like to rub
my body in pure grain alcohol after a bath but do not do so regularly sir can
we actually can we sort of stay a little more on topic so what that does have in
common is that is something you're doing your body what it's not helping with is
sort of just you know we're not interested about you rolling around in
grain alcohol I pour wine on my dick so just listen to me when I let's tell
let's just stick to kind of what we were sort of saying about the general odor
from the armpit and not worry too much about what what other stuff you go into
or put on yourself so really it's just about the armpit and you know we can
improve that that area is odor you know yeah yeah okay so so I'll uh and I do
this with some of the fellas okay already I'm just want to make sure we're
sticking to what I just talked about southern comfort is a particular type of
whiskey and I'll I'll take I'll take up like a little bowl of it yes sorry no
no no no stop right now oh no no no no no no no no no I'll go and crouch over that just dip my balls in it
God stop talking now stop talking things there should be no things on your list
hundred percent no things on your list burns like a motherfucker don't do that
to your testicles I were talking about armpit don't somehow stop telling me the
list somehow I get shit face out of my fucking mind like you're wrong are you
drinking the ball bowl after yes okay don't look this isn't added for arms so
that's what we are eliminating the odor from the body okay you're adding an odor
to your body don't ask any more questions about the liquor you're putting on
your body this is a weird survey but it's a very straightforward survey you've
made it crazy on your own now tequila is a special please go away I see friend of
mine who's next let me interview that dog
okay we're still here I just told me zoom ended but I see you I see you baby
you've got nowhere you've got nowhere you've got nowhere well it's not it's
getting away now okay took a weird turn you're nobody so basically doing the
survey of the men at the company it's like there was a lot of money to be made
if men could be convinced to use deodorant but that was a gonna be a long
long haul right quote I feel there is a market for deodorants among men that is
practically unscratched the copy approach is always directed at women why
not an intelligent campaign in a leading men's magazine and quote if someone like
menons got out a man would buy it I mean it's got men in the title yeah it's
percent preparations have a feminine association men only shy at I don't know
exactly what that means so they get the handicaps but they're like look we need
to you know let's get let's get let's get the ball rolling yeah let's get the
balls rolling a deodorant for men was put out in 1935 it was in a manly black
bottle and named top flight top flight makes you fly so I don't know if you
notice this I can't I can't remember what it's fucking called but they recently
came out with a men's wet wipe for oh yeah asses yeah it's called like yeah
yeah it's it's called like dootels or it's something like that yeah and it's
black it's the same yeah exact same idea it's got a man name and it's and it's
black and it's the like we're it's almost a hundred years later it's still the
same dumb man shit yeah happening yeah but you're like and will it still clog
all the sewers like all the other wipes oh absolutely it equally clogs it's
terrible for everything yeah the environment don't worry it's a total
total nightmare so do you understand depressments for men also went after
mail-in securities during the Great Depression a lot of men worried that
they would lose their jobs so the company focused on what it would mean we
talked to a CEO who told us I ain't hiring no more stinkers hey yeah well if
you were the body odor guy in the office fuck someone just stole my zoom
account yeah they changed in the middle in the middle of recording the top they
changed the email of my zoom account and stole it so that's cool I gotta deal
with that now so they put out this black bottle of top flight deodorant yeah
they go after mail-in securities so the campaigns focus on men it's a great
depression they focus on men being worried that they're gonna smell bad in
an office lose their job fired and right and now being not being groomed
well can hurt your career right so they're going after that history
professor Kerry Castile quote men who had been farmers or laborers had lost
their masculinity by losing their jobs top flight offered a way to become
masculine instantly or so the advertisement said get hired sent so all
these guys out there you know you're a farmer you lost your farm you just feel
a masculinity you can't take care of your family it just goes into all these
things and then this thing comes along it's like be a man again but not
smelling bottle of man yeah it's so crazy it's nice that the flat it's nice
that they're making the men feel like pieces of shit for a minute now got you
know they've had a good run that's right so to sell it to men they also have to
separate what they've been doing with the other antiperspirant for women right
can't be putting on something that's made for women so they've told us this new
product then you become girl seaforth was a deodorant that was sold in
ceramic whiskey jugs smell like the ocean
could you just imagine buying deodorant that is in a whiskey man didn't smell
like whiskey already that's the odor we're trying to escape it's not what we
need to like lack or moron the owner of the company said he quote couldn't
think of anything more manly than whiskey what does a man want to smell like
more than whiskey exactly have you been drinking the deodorant I've had a
simple bars so soon all across America anti-person every woman's gonna be
licking your armpits and just lighten up a little bit so right all across the
US anti-perspirant and deodorant products are targeting both men and
women tons of products hit stores shun hush veto long-spy dainty dry slick
first stop zip so it's just now we're just getting tons of deodorant
feeding frenzy right yeah of women everyone's laughing at you behind your
back man you're gonna lose your goddamn job and then there's new ways to apply
anti-perspirants that starts exploding there's sticks and there's sprays and
there's roll-ons and there's aerosols they keep coming up with new ways and new
formulas maybe people would have found deodorants and anti-perspirants without
the brutal advertising and push for you know the stuff that James Young did and
others but still it's all pretty bananas I mean maybe people would have come to
this organically who knows sure the harsh and predatory ads weren't just
deodorant ads however James Young had revolutionized advertising and by the
30s 40s so shameful 30s 40s is almost like a regular assault just a
relentless assault on insecurities right and and it and let's just be very
men had it nowhere near as bad as women had it was really fucking brutal for
women Lysol was sold as a douche in the 30s oh my god oh my god something
for garbage cans it's a what there are some things on the dog I wish I had
never learned and this is 100% horrible oh and of course Lysol jumps on the
there's something wrong with women train right oh there the the Lysol ads are so
fucking shocking there's one ad and there's a man walking out of the house
you see the back of me these guys bag-packed it smells like bad cooter
juice wife and young daughter are like facing toward right facing toward the
the front of the ad and she's holding her young daughter is probably like four
and they're being left behind clearly being left behind and and the line is
quote another love match shipwrecked on the dangerous reef of half truths about
feminine hygiene oh my god the poetry for that I want to I need to read that
again another love match shipwrecked on the dangerous reef reef of half
truths about feminine hygiene oh my god oh my god Lysol you like being a single
mother oh cuz your coochie smell girl Lysol Lysol has prevented many such
tragedy that's better damn it oh another Lysol ad had a man looking he looks
disturbed and the wife is looking confused and they're just standing next
to each other yeah and it starts by saying he is no longer interested in
sex quote yeah what has she done is it really all her fault a oh so then it
goes into a question and answer answer question and this is a this is an answer
a it is not so much what she has done as what she has neglected and that is
proper feminine hygiene oh boy question can neglect of proper feminine hygiene
really spoil a happy marriage answer yes and the pity of it is every way that
can't be right oh and a yes and the pity of it is every wife can hold her
lovable charm by simply using Lysol disinfected as an effective douche have
you ever seen the movie crazy people Dudley Moore a long long time ago like
it's like the slogans are on that level it's like look we understand that your
husband is confused by you and no longer wants to be around you Lysol just
like what that this to me the Lysol ones are the most heinous and there are so
fucking many of them you can find them online oh oh just fucking repulsive
their vaginas lie solved um there was a you are in a beauty contest every half
hour of every day for Kame Kame soups what what a what a what a prison ad did
you know you're in a fashion gulag every half hour on the hour you must
present and Femison for cramps in which the ad says thanks for Femison she now
acts like the woman I married every day of the month so God it's it's focused me
a potpourri painless person it is focused on dudes to get to talk their
wife into taking it when she's menstruating so they can be like say
let's fucking get you over this shit honey look well I understand you have
cramps but this is really a loveless marriage all of a sudden how about a
narcotic and this is every this is like all products Kellogg's all brand had an
ad titled she was a one date girl why because she was constipated which made
her uncomfortable which made her lose her personality which killed her dating
life she's alone now now she's eating Brandon boy the the fellas love being
around when she's shitting so I can't I mean we can just go through these for
hours but it's just it was I would I would think of this then that time that
a man would prefer a constipated woman you know what I mean to be like how it
hurts he'd be like well I'm laughing all the way to the bank Cynthia now why
don't you come over here and never poop again how I love a woman who never ever
ever his shit that's there we go now you go home and figure it out treat
yourself like a clogged bottle of ketchup hit the 57 on your belly so look
that you know this went on for a for a long time it's still you know you still
see it today it's not as blunt and obvious and brutal as it clearly was in
like the 30s and 40s Jimmy Young ended up being inducted into the Advertising
Hall of Fame well you know what let's have another one of those ceremonies and
just blow torch it down he wrote a couple of very important ad world books for
the Adworld people the diary of humans the diet of an ad man and how to become
an advertising man now today we still apparently have this it's not directed at
me or you the main focus of deodorant ads and smelling good ads are focused on
teenage boys specifically non-white teenage boys that's who and then you
could also think of remember the axe body spray ads yeah so you have the you
know a dude smells good and now hundreds of thousands where they're coming down
cliffs I mean I'll forget the cliff one the cliff one still makes me laugh it's
just like it's a because it's a nightmare it's just absolutely incredible that
anybody thought like it's just a dude just puts on axe body spray and then it
just should good pictures thousands of women running down a cliff wants that
you'd be like I'm going to murder me I'm going to be murdered so that's where
all that ad stuff came from that's where it's it really is disgusting I mean it
really is like you know because you can make an argument that is totally valid
for why people shouldn't stink it just you shouldn't take the shame path you
should not take the shame path it's really it's really fucking crazy yeah I
mean is that yeah yeah I think I it would just keep repeating itself after
while and the Lysol one like how many more how many more of those can you read
I do think that you know it when you really boil it down to you know we have
such an incestuous list of problems like one hand washes the other washes the
other and so you know you have your media that doesn't do shit and you have
your government that's complicit in the you know the corporate coup and then by
the way we're getting into the patreon part of the show thought company history
of deodorants mental floss body odor through ages brief history of deodorant
the weak brief history of body odor Smithsonian magazine how advertisers
convinced Americans they smelled bad medium.com lessons from history stinky
women in the first deodorant stinky women and then the it's the sequel the
little women the podcast distillation distillations the smell of shame how
deodorant became omnipresent in America. Yeah so yeah goodbye everybody.