PandG Naphtha Soap
Sponsors New
NBC(Red) Serial
"The Guiding Light.....
brought to you by PandG Soap.....
The White Naphtha Soap."
--- Fort Pearson 
Lincoln, Me. (DG)--
 During
the beginning of the 20th Century, PandG The White Naphtha Soapwas
a handy product to have around the house. In its heyday, PandG
was known as America's largest selling bar laundry soap. Since it was considered
one of the pioneer Procter & Gamble cleaning products,
PandG joins the ranks of other ground breaking cleaning products
like Ivory Flakes, Chipso, Oxydol, Dreft, and Tide. While it was best known as a bar laundry soap, PandG could clean
just about any surface in the house that needed cleaning.
While it made an impression in the exciting world of washing the laundry,
PandG will be remembered as a part of broadcasting history---
history that is continuing to this very day.
On Monday, January 25, 1937, a new Irna Phillips creation made its debut
on NBC's Red Network. The new serial in question was
THE GUIDING LIGHT. Yes, this is the same GUIDING LIGHT
now seen on CBS-TV. When the initial broadcast took place, no one associated
with the program or sponsor would have believed the program would continue into the
year 2000 and beyond. Of course, the characters and the story have changed over the years,
and PandG has been replaced with the modern Procter &
Gamble products of today. In fact, GUIDING LIGHT also
outlasted its original creator, Irna Phillips, who died in 1973.
Not
only is GUIDING LIGHT the longest running serial program, it
is also the longest running continuing program in broadcasting history (only
the radio broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera has longer seniority, but it's
on the air during the opera season).
As for PandG, it was a popular and inexpensive cleaning
product of the early 20th century--- but it had an uncanny ability to
disappear during wartime.
It all began during World War I. PandG The White Naphtha Soap
wasn't sold, because naphtha was needed for military purposes. With
PandG an extremely popular cleaning product, Procter &
Gamble made sure there was a PandG soap for home
use. On the shelves where the original naphtha soap used to be was
PandG White Laundry Soap. The name was the same; the
wrapper looked the same; and the bar inside the wrapper was white as
always. The only difference was this soap didn't have
naphtha. When World War I came to a successful conclusion for the
Allied troops, PandG The White Naphtha Soap returned when
there was enough naphtha to make the soap for consumer use.
 Now
let's turn the clock ahead to that awful December day in 1941. With
the horrible events that took place in the Pacific, it was obvious the United
States was going to participate in World War II. Once again,
Procter & Gamble reserved its naphtha supply for the war effort.
The original PandG Naphtha Soap was going on hiatus in favor of its
wartime counterpart, PandG White Laundry Soap. It was
the same quality laundry soap that was sold during World War I. The
only difference was this PandG was packaged in a more modern
wrapper. With the changes taking place, PandG almost
disappeared completely as a radio sponsor, and its ads weren't found in
magazines like it used to. Of course, the limited soap production
for home use may have had a bearing on PandG's limited
advertising.
 When
the Allies clinched the final victory, PandG Naphtha Soap
returned once again. Unfortunately, it was a completely different
situation this time. There was a new cleaning product on the horizon
(Tide) that was going to push PandG and other
soap products to the brink of oblivion. PandG was
still around when Tide made its nationwide debut, but it's
doubtful the soap was around much longer after that.
Although PandG is but a distant memory today, the program
it sponsored back in 1937 is still going strong. No matter how many
products sponsored GUIDING LIGHT (it's a long list),
PandG The White Naphtha Soap will always be known as the program's
very first sponsor.
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