Charmin
Encyclopedia
Toilet paper
Toilet paper is a soft paper product used to maintain personal hygiene after human defecation or urination. However, it can also be used for other purposes such as blowing one's nose when one has a cold or absorbing common spills around the house, although paper towels are more used for the latter...
manufactured by Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....
.
History
The Charmin name was first created in 1928 by the Hoberg Paper Company in Green Bay, WisconsinGreen Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...
. In 1950, Hoberg changed its name to Charmin Paper Company and continued to produce bath tissue, paper napkins, and other paper products. Procter & Gamble (P&G) acquired Charmin Paper Company in 1957, but sold the right to make and market the product in Europe (where it is now known as Cushelle) to SCA
Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget
Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget is a Swedish consumer goods company and pulp and paper manufacturer with headquarters in Stockholm. It has approximately 45,000 employees and a turnover of approximately SEK 107 billion...
in 2008.
Advertising
Older American advertisements featured actor Dick WilsonDick Wilson
Dick Wilson, born Riccardo DiGuglielmo , was a British-born American character actor who played the role of finicky grocery store manager Mr...
, who played the fictional grocer
Grocer
A grocer is a bulk seller of food. Beginning as early as the 14th century, a grocer was a dealer in comestible dry goods such as spices, pepper, sugar, and cocoa, tea and coffee...
Mr. George Whipple
Mr. Whipple
Mr. George Whipple is a fictional supermarket manager featured in television commercials and print advertisements that ran in the United States and Canada from 1964 to 1985 for Charmin toilet paper...
who told customers, "Please don't squeeze the Charmin!" in more than 500 commercials between 1964 and 1985.
The Charmin Bear was introduced in 2000, reviving the White Cloud Toilet Paper|White Cloud bears from an advertising model abandoned when White Cloud toilet paper line was re-branded Charmin Ultra in 1993. The new animated advertising campaign was called "Call of Nature." This coincided with the launch of Charmin in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The Charmin bear is now mascot for Charmin Ultra Strong and Charmin Ultra Soft.
European rebrand to "Cushelle"
From February 2010, the product's European brand name was changed to Cushelle by manufacturer SCASvenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget
Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget is a Swedish consumer goods company and pulp and paper manufacturer with headquarters in Stockholm. It has approximately 45,000 employees and a turnover of approximately SEK 107 billion...
.
There is also a new mascot, Koala which is a koala
Koala
The koala is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia, and the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae....
. In the advertisements for Cushelle, they are voiced-over by Robert Webb
Robert Webb (actor)
Robert Webb is an English actor, comedian and writer, and one half of the double act Mitchell and Webb, alongside David Mitchell.-Early life:...
.
Times Square Charmin restrooms
In 2006, Charmin opened up public restrooms in New York City's Times Square. The location is now a new Disney Store. The convenience of having clean restrooms in Times Square during the Christmas season was a novel idea. There is currently no news of a 2011 Charmin restroom location at this time.Slogans
- Don't Squeeze the Charmin (1960s)
- Once it's gotcha, it's gotcha! (1980s)
- Ch-ch Choose Charmin. (1993–1997)
- Best for "Bear" Bottoms. (1997–1999)
- Cha-cha-cha Charmin. (1999–2007)
- Less Is More! (2000–2004)
- Look for it in a color package. (2007-2010)
- Enjoy the Charmin experience. (2009–present)
- Enjoy The Go. (2007–present)
Environmental impact
In February 2009, GreenpeaceGreenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
advised consumers not to use Charmin toilet paper stating that it does not use recycled paper and uses ECF bleaching
Elemental chlorine free
Elemental chlorine free is a technique that uses chlorine dioxide for the bleaching of wood pulp. It does not use elemental chlorine gas during the bleaching process and prevents the formation of dioxins and dioxin-like compounds, carcinogens....
.
German rebrand to Zewa
In 2008, Charmin was rebranded Zewa in Germany. There was no mascot in the commercials, but in the first Zewa commercial the Charmin bear was seen.Cushelle movie
A new 61-minute movie will be made in 2012 that will feature the voice of Emma Tate as the Cushelle koala, Kristel. This CGI-animated feature-length special features the mascot climbing up a tree in a village called Koalaland. It will run throughout the spring on CartoonitoCartoonito
Cartoonito is a British preschool television channel in the UK, available in both English and French. The channel usually airs programmes directed towards children under age 8, or "kids" versions of popular children's shows...
, the children's pre-school programming slot owned by Turner Broadcasting System
Turner Broadcasting System
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. is the Time Warner subsidiary managing the collection of cable networks and properties started and acquired by Robert Edward "Ted" Turner starting in the mid-1970s. The company has its headquarters in the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. TBS, Inc...
broadcasting channels.