The New Brands

Americans became very brand conscious during and after the industrial revolution. This began with advertising in newspapers, followed by other media later. The powerful protection provided under the Trademark Act of 1905 encouraged the use of brand names among manufacturers.

Then
Now
woman washing dishes with brillo soap the word brillo with soap bubbles
Cleaning, scouring, and polishing wads
Registered by the Brillo Manufacturing Company.
package woman's face and the words aunt jemima
Aunt Jemima®'s original trademark was red on the top, white on the bottom.
The package coloring is still in use.
Registered by the Quaker Oats Company.
the word vaseline surrounded by characters the words vaseline chesebrough
Vaseline® was first used for Petroleum Jelly in 1899 and first registered as a U.S. Trademark in 1925.
It was registered by the Chesebrough Manufacturing Company and is now owned by Conopco, Inc. doing business as Chesebrough Pond's.

picture of a hershey's chocolate kiss hershey's chocolate kiss
Hershey's Kisses® have maintained their look since their first registration in 1923.

the word wonder the word wonder with circles and a line above and a line below
The Wonder® trademark has expanded from loaf bread to include tortillas. It was first used in 1921.
Registered in to the Interstate Brands Company in 1996.

To read more about brands see Why Did They Name It...? by Hannah Campbell and Soap, Sex, and Cigarettes: A Cultural History of American Advertising. by Juliann Sivulka. To read more about Aunt Jemima see Slave in a Box: The Strange Career of Aunt Jemina by M. M. Manring.

This material may be duplicated providing appropriate credit is given.

McKinney Engineering Library