Ad blocker detected: Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Disable your ad blocker to continue using our website.
Listerine was invented in the 19th century as a powerful surgical antiseptic. It was later sold, in a very distilled form, as a floor cleaner and a cure for gonorrhea. But it wasn't a runaway success until the 1920s, when it was pitched as a solution for "chronic halitosis", the faux medical term that the Listerine advertising group created in 1921 to describe bad breath. By naming and thus creating a medical condition for which consumers now felt they needed a cure, Listerine created a market for their mouthwash. Until that time, bad breath was not conventionally considered a catastrophe, but Listerine's ad campaign changed that. As the advertising scholar James B. Twitchell writes, "Listerine did not make mouthwash as much as it made halitosis." Listerine's new ads featured forlorn young women and men, eager for marriage but turned off by their mate's rotten breath. "Can I be happy with him in spite of that?" one maiden asked herself. In just seven years, the company's revenues rose from $115,000 to more than $8 million.
Hello, I'm Jimi Stein, the owner of the world's largest bad breath site. Currently, we're in need of funding to keep the site operational. We're unsponsored and heavily rely on your generosity. If you can, please donate to help us maintain this truth-focused platform. We've integrated Google AdSense, but it only generates 50 cents a day, and the site already has too many ads. Your contribution is crucial to keep us running. We've never compromised our commitment to truth, and with your support, we can continue to provide valuable 100% truthful content. Thank you for considering a donation to keep our site alive.