Spic and Span
Template:Short description Template:Infobox brand Spic and Span is a brand of all-purpose household cleaner marketed by KIK Custom Products Inc. for home consumer use and by Procter & Gamble for professional (non-home-consumer) use.
HistoryEdit
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On June 15, 1926, Whistle Bottling Company of Johnsonburg, Pennsylvania, registered "Spic and Span" trademark No. 214,076 — washing and cleaning compound in crystal form with incidental water-softening properties.Template:Fact
The modern cleaner was invented by housewives Elizabeth "Bet" MacDonald and Naomi Stenglein in Saginaw, Michigan in 1933.Template:Fact Their formula included equal parts of ground-up glue, sodium carbonate, and trisodium phosphate; though trisodium phosphate is no longer part of the modern formula out of a concern for environmental damage from phosphates making their way into waterways.Template:Fact Stenglein observed that testing in her house made it spotless, or "spick and span". They took the k off "spick" and started selling the product to local markets. From 1933 to 1944, both families helped run their "Spic and Span Products Company".Template:Fact On January 29, 1945, Procter & Gamble, a major international manufacturer of household and personal products based in Cincinnati, Ohio, bought Spic and Span for $1.9 million.<ref>Michigan History, November/December, 2007. pp. 13-15.</ref> On August 30, 1949, Procter & Gamble registered the "Spic and Span" trademark (soluble cleaner, cleanser, and detergent).Template:Fact
The product was advertised in many soap operas, serving as the main sponsor of Search for Tomorrow for two decades.Template:Fact
The brand, along with Comet, was acquired by Prestige Brands in 2001.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2018, Prestige Brands sold the brand to KIK Custom Products Inc.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Procter & Gamble retained the rights to market the brand to the professional (non-home-consumer) market in the United States.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
UsageEdit
The powdered form must be mixed in water to use. A liquid version is also available. Although considered all-purpose, it is "not recommended for carpets, upholstery, aluminum, glass, laundry, or mixing with bleach or ammonia" as written on product label.Template:Fact
EtymologyEdit
The product was named from the older phrase "spick and span".
The phrase "span-new" meant as new as a freshly cut wood chip, such as those once used to make spoons. In a metaphor dating from at least 1300, something span-new was neat and unstained.<ref name="phrases">Martin, Gary. Spick-and-span, Phrases.org.uk. Accessed 2019-03-08.</ref>
Spic was added in the 16th century, as a "spick" (a spike or nail) was another metaphor for something neat and trim. The British phrase may have evolved from the Dutch spiksplinter nieuw, "spike-splinter new".<ref name="OnED">Online Etymology Dictionary. Accessed 2007-01-16.</ref> In 1665, Samuel Pepys used "spicke and span" in his famous diary. The "clean" sense appears to have arisen only recently.<ref name="TOW">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The term is completely unrelated to the modern epithet spic.<ref name="phrases" />