Mr. Clean

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Mr. Clean (known as Flash in the UK^[1]) is a brand name fully owned by Procter & Gamble and created in Puerto Rico. Mr. Clean also makes a melamine foam cleaner under the name-brand of Magic Eraser.

History

Mr. Clean made its debut in 1958. Within the first six months of the introduction, Mr. Clean became the best-selling household cleaner on the market.^{[citation needed]}

In November 1962, Mr. Clean was assigned a first name Veritably Clean as a result of the "Give Mr. Clean a First Name" promotion.

In the winter of 1963 Mr. Clean played a police officer "Grimefighter" who really arrested dirt problems.

In the summer of 1963 Mr. Clean became the first liquid household cleaner in a plastic bottle.

In April 1965 Mr. Clean got mad at dirt and appeared as "New, Mean Mr. Clean."

In the spring of 1966 Mr. Clean played "two-fisted" grime fighter, who knocked out dirt with one hand and left the shine with the other. Also offered a spray dispenser as promotion pack to increase convenience of use.

In spring 1966 Mr. Clean offered clean and shine, in the "Mr. Clean leaves a sheen where you clean" campaign. He grew whiskers for brute strength, had a black eye to show floor "shiner" and testified in court against dirt.

In Spring 1968 Mr. Clean was a "Changed Man" and was reformulated to include pine aroma and better cleaning "in the bucket."

In October 1970 "Lemon Refreshed" Mr. Clean premiered.

In the summer of 1974 "Two Fisted Mr. Clean" was introduced, who was great at cleaning on one hand and on the other hand he leaves what's shiny gleaming. (This commercial brought back the use of the original Mr. Clean jingle).

In July 1976 "Sunshine Fresh Mr. Clean" with improved fragrance was introduced.

In December of 1981 Mr. Clean was had a new no-wax floor formula.

In January 1983 Mr. Clean offered Lemon Bright improved no-wax formula.

In March 1985 Mr. Clean celebrated his 24th anniversary as "The Man Behind the Shine" with donation of all Mr. Clean television commercials to the UCLA Film Television and Radio Archives.

In July 1985 a new Mr. Clean was introduced with better full-strength cleaning to clean down to the shine like never before. Also in 1985 a national search for Mr. Clean look-alikes launched in Los Angeles.

In 1996 Mr. Clean appeared in "How Times Have Changed", once again using the original Mr. Clean jingle and the new Ultra power in it.

House Peters, Jr., an actor, appeared "live" as "Mr. Clean" but never appeared in any of the Mr. Clean commercials airing in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He died from pneumonia at the age of 92 on October 1, 2008.^[2]

International versions

The name "Clean" is usually translated into local languages:

• in Canadian French Monsieur Net;
• in Spain, currently Don Limpio, it was originally launched and sold for years as 'Mister Proper' though;
• in Mexico, Maestro Limpio;
• in Italy, Mastro Lindo;
• in Germany, Meister Proper;
• in France, Monsieur Propre;
• in Serbia, Mister Proper;
• in Poland, Mister Proper.

Image

The product's mascot is the character Mr. Clean. In 1957, Harry Barnhart conceived the idea and Ernie Allen in the art department at the advertising agency Tatham-Laird & Kudner in Chicago, Illinois drew Mr. Clean as a muscular, tanned, bald man who cleans things very well.

According to Procter & Gamble, the original model for the image of Mr. Clean was a United States Navy sailor from the city of Pensacola, Florida, although most people think he is a genie based on his earring, folded arms, and tendency to appear magically at the appropriate time. Hal Mason, the head animator at Cascade Pictures in Hollywood, modified the pre-existing artwork in print advertising to be more readily used for the television commercials written, produced and directed by Thomas Scott Cadden. (Cadden also wrote the words and music for the original Mr. Clean jingle — see below.) The first actor to portray Mr. Clean in live action television commercials was the late House Peters, Jr.

Mr. Clean has always smiled, except for a brief time in the mid 1960s during the "Mean Mr. Clean" series of ads when he was frowning because "He hates dirt!" Although Mr. Clean is the strong, silent type, he did speak once in a television commercial where live actor (Mark Dana) appeared playing Mr. Clean in a suit and tie in the mid-1960s. It has been suggested that Mr. Clean subliminally represented something of a "mystery man" for housewives at home alone cleaning the house.^[3][4][5]

In September 2008, the European Parliament deemed Mr. Clean potentially offensive, because his build might imply that cleaning can only be accomplished by a muscular man.^[6]

Jingle

Mr. Clean's theme song, or jingle, has been around since the product's introduction, initially sung as a popular-music style duet between a man (Don Cherry) and a woman (Betty Bryan). Thomas Scott Cadden (1923-2007) wrote the jingle at his home in Skokie, Illinois in the spring of 1957 while working for Tatham-Laird & Kudner Advertising Agency. The vocal and piano recording was made on a home tape recorder for presentation to the agency and later to Procter & Gamble. Procter & Gamble approved the jingle in the spring or summer of 1957. Thomas Scott Cadden produced the recording of the jingle at Universal Recorders in Chicago in the summer or fall of 1957. Bill Walker was the arranger and Don Cherry and Betty Bryan (the latter later married to Jerry Birn, writer for The Bold and the Beautiful and The Young and the Restless) were the singers. In January or February of 1958, Cadden produced and wrote the first pool of television commercials — nine one-minute commercials and four 20-second "lifts". Included was the original full 60-second jingle commercial and the 10-second jingle "tag" at the end of all the others. They were produced at Cascade Pictures in Hollywood, California. The first pool of commercials ran in August 1958 at WDTV/KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania the year the product was introduced. The jingle is copyrighted under numbers EU 589219 & EU 599220. The jingle is also registered with ASCAP under title code 570098598 & 570006267. It has been played as recently as 2008, usually in a contemporary musical setting or instrumental version. It is the longest running advertising jingle used in television history.

Original lyrics by Thomas Scott Cadden:

Chorus:

Mr. Clean gets rid of dirt and grime

And grease in just a minute

Mr. Clean will clean your whole house

And everything that's in it

Verse #1:

Floors, doors, walls, halls

White sidewall tires and old golfballs

Sinks, stoves, bathtubs he'll do

He'll even help clean laundry, too.

Verse #2:

Can he clean a kitchen sink?

Quicker than a wink.

Can he clean a window sash?

Faster than a flash.

Can he clean a dirty mirror?

He'll make it bright and clearer.

Can he clean a diamond ring?

Mr. Clean cleans anything.

Chorus:

Mr. Clean gets rid of dirt and grime

And grease in just a minute

Mr. Clean will clean your whole house

And everything that's in it

Mr. Clean ... Mr. Clean ... Mr. Clean

Mr. Clean in popular culture

• In the Lost episode "The Hunting Party", "Mr. Clean" is one of Sawyer's nicknames for John Locke, a bald muscular character portrayed by Terry O'Quinn.^[7]

• Mr. Clean's appearance with his tight muscle shirt, ear piercing, stylishly handsome looks, fastidious habits, and helpful but deferential persona in television commercials, has made Mr. Clean into something of a gay icon.^[8]

• In The Simpsons episode "Bart Gets an Elephant", Homer pours a bottle of "Mr. Cleanser" into a puddle in the basement and begins scrubbing, ignoring the warning to only use the product in a well-ventilated area. The resultant fumes cause him to hallucinate and imagine the various mascots from a selection of household cleaning products coming to life. The mascots then begin to brutally attack Homer and Mr. Cleanser, identical to Mr. Clean right down to having the correct skin colour (as opposed to the usual yellow skin of characters in the series), angrily informs Homer in a German accent "I...must...destroy you!".

• A character in Apocalypse Now, played by Laurence Fishburne, is nicknamed Mr. Clean.

• "make mrproper" is a command in the Linux kernel build system, used to "clean up" all files from past builds and restore the build directory to its original clean state. The reason "make mrproper" is used instead of "make mrclean" is because Linus Torvalds, the father of Linux, was familiar with the name "Mr. Proper" as this is the brand widely known in Europe.

• In Aerosmith's song "Shut up and Dance" a line reads "When you're splitting hairs with Mr. Clean it's like getting head from a guillotine, and the night has just begun"

Mr. Clean scenes competition

In March 2007, Mr. Clean launched an online competition with YouTube that gave consumers the opportunity to create a commercial advertising the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.^[9]

Entrants were asked to use up to 60 seconds of time for their advertisement. A prize of $10,000 was slated for the announced winner, based on an independent judging corporation's (D.L. Blair) scoring.

The competition ran through June 30, 2007. In September 2007, the $10,000 prize was awarded to the creator of the winning video "Here's To Stains.”^[10]

References

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