Talk:Gold Dust Twins/Archive 1

Original:

Gold Dust Twins

The Gold Dust Twins became the 'face' of the Fairbank's Gold Dust Washing Powder products. These were all-purpose cleaning agents first introduced in the 1890's by the Nathaniel Kellogg Fairbank's Soap Company based in New York, NY, although the product itself was created and manufactured at the company's Midwest research facility in Chicago, IL. It was distributed in America by the Lever Brothers Company.

Introduced in 1897, Gold Dust Cleaning Powder quickly became a success. The product's bright orange label prominently featured the Gold Dust Twins. These were a bald pair of caricature black children shown wearing tutu's emblazoned with the words "Gold Dust". In ads, they were often comically pictured, along with a huge stack of dishes in a washtub, with one twin cleaning, the other drying. On the original labels, they are simply pictured standing side by side behind a mound of gold coins, under an arch reading "Fairbank's" and over the "Gold Dust Washing Powder" text.

The brand rose to national prominence following the the 1903 kick-off of The Gold Dust Twins marketing campaign. They became an easily recognizable trademark found in most U.S. homes during the first half of the twentieth century. The Twins icon was featured in both print and radio ads for over fifty years, until national sensibilities changed and the product was phased out in the 1950s. "Let the Twins Do Your Work" was its marketing slogan.

The moniker "Gold Dust Twins" has often been used to describe two individuals working closely together for a common goal.

Outside Links
www.theoldentimes.com www.chicagohistoryjournal.com

GenQuest (talk) 20:06, 13 December 2009 (UTC)