Adventures in vintage advertising: brushing up on the history of toothpaste ads

Like a craving, a bolt of lightning, or the tune to a song you can’t quite recall the correct words to, inspiration for a post can strike anywhere, anytime! :D This morning as I was brushing my teeth, I began thinking about the beautiful way in which toothpaste was often advertised in the past. Ads for this simple, humble daily commodity were (as was the case with so many now vintage products of the past) resplendent works of art in and of themselves.

Long before 4 out of 5 dentists were recommending a particular brand or we had 7,209 various flavours, formulas and colours to choose from, toothpaste was often promoted with a subtle, dignified glamour that makes many of its yesteryear ads worthy of framing.

While those perpetually ahead of their time ancient Egyptians are known to have had a recipe or two for toothpaste, fascinatingly, the commonplace usage of this oral health helper – particularly in conjunction with a toothbrush – did not kick in until the 19th century.

Prior to this time various – and sometimes rather repugnant – formulas for homemade toothpastes (and tooth powders) existed and were employed by some people, but in general dental health was not valued or given even so much as a fraction of the importance it is today.

Luckily for the sake of people who enjoy whispering secrets everywhere, by the Victorian era the use of tooth cleaning products was becoming more and more widely accepted. Towards the end of the eighteen hundreds toothpaste first began appearing in tubes (by 1896 Colgate had produced a “tooth cream” in a tube), a packaging concept that was directly inspired by tubes used to hold artists paint.

As the twentieth century rolled in and onwards, toothpaste (and the use of toothbrushes) gained momentum, which I would venture to say, correlates with the fact that personal hygiene (bathing and washing of one’s hair more often, etc) in general became of greater importance to many people.

Throughout the past century numerous brands of toothpaste emerged onto the market, some of these still exist today, but others are now obsolete (or are much harder to find, such as Ipana - which is still popular in Turkey but rarely found elsewhere these days). Toothpaste ads of the past offer an interesting look into the way oral hygiene has been approached over the past hundred years. Some are little more than simple drawing or photos depicting a certain brand, others (just as with modern day ads) relied on paragraphs of text – and, sometimes promises of what they could do for the buyer – to get the message of their effectiveness across to consumers. Below is a selection of vintage toothpaste ads from the 20th century, each one a glimpse into marketing mind-frame of its respective era.


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{I’m captivated by the sweet, sublimely pretty illustration in this 1917 Pebeco ad. I think that if one were lucky enough to chance upon a copy or a print of it, it would look amazing hung as wall art in the powder room.}



{A lithe little fairy rides atop a tube of Fiat toothpaste in this 1927 Italian ad. I wonder, is this the same Fiat brand known the world over today as a car manufacturer?}



{If we are to believe this Ipana ad, creamy foods were your teeth – and gums’ – worst nightmare in 1934 . Who knew?}



{Aren’t these 1930s woman and their pearly white smiles captivatingly lovely? Though they’re advertising Listerine brand toothpaste, I think they could just have easily been models in a fashion spread of the time.}



{I continually find it both interesting – and perhaps a little sad – that beauty advertisements from the past often blatantly targeted homely gals (the sad part being that they couldn’t just look all women as lovely humans and had to separate the beauty queens from the “plain Janes”). This Ipana ad from 1941 is a prime example of an attempt to appeal their product to women who weren’t “born to beauty”. If you ask me, the women in that photo is a stunner, so I’m not sure if they really conveyed the message they were going for here.}



{Cartoon strip panels – featuring either drawing or photos – which often included the most absurd dialog imaginable, were a popular form of advertisement throughout the mid-twentieth century. This 1941 Colgate ad in which “Sal” morphs from a bad breath totting social pariah to Bob’s future bride is a prime example of what I’m talking about.}



{An elegantly pretty woman graces this no-fuss 1944 ad for Pepsodent toothpaste which ran in the Air Training Corps Gazette.}



{Ads that implied using their brand of toothpaste would ensure you got the date/love of your life were fairly common in the past, such as this 1947 Gleem brand advert in which we see the new couple smooching in a smaller frame on the right hand side.}



{A rather sombre looking woman transforms from reserved to upbeat and chipper the moment she’s asked if she uses Macleans tooth paste, in this ad from 1953.}



{Featuring a series of fantastically mid-century style drawings, this 1956 Crest ad promoted the use of their toothpaste to help “triumph over tooth decay”.}



{With a font that could either be perceived as stylish or frightening, this 1957 S.R. brand toothpaste ad features a neat “block” of water and a gal that looks rather akin to Kirsten Dunst.}



{Does anyone else feel like Colgate was sending slightly mixed signals about tooth health when decided to use a frosted birthday cake in this ad from 1960?.}

{All images above are from Flickr. Please click on an image to be taken to its respective Flickr page.}


What do you think, would these advertisements be enough to convince you to buy their the toothpaste they were selling, or would you much rather just have the wonderful vintage adverts themselves to adorn your scrapbook or walls with?

While it probably wouldn’t be a wise move to use an actual container of vintage toothpaste if you chanced upon one, if you’re wishing that the tubes on the market today had even a fraction of the panache of lovely vintage ones in the ads above, a brand by the name of Marvis makes some extremely beautiful tubes of toothpaste in an assortment of delicious flavours (such as jasmine mint and ginger mint).

I hope you enjoyed this quick tour through the advertisement history of one of most common, everyday items we all use. This post is the first in a new segment based on vintage ads, in which I’ll highlight a number of adverts for a specific product, company or service.

Wishing you each a marvelous Wednesday – and good dental health always! :)