The Truth About Floating Soap

TL;DR

Ivory soap floats because tiny air bubbles whipped into the mixture make each bar slightly less dense than water. Although Ivory long portrayed floating soap as an employee’s accidental discovery, an 1863 notebook showed that chemist James Gamble intentionally made it, and the product reached consumers in 1879. Read on to discover how the origin myth was debunked and how unusual campaigns helped market the brand.

Transcript

Ivory has been producing their uniquely floating soap for the well over a century now and in that time they’ve become one of the most popular soap brands in the world. For many years, the company has maintained that the discovery of its trademark floating soap was a complete accident, but exactly how true is this? For those of you who aren’t famili... Read More

Key Insights

• ✋ Ivory soap's popularity is attributed to its high purity and buoyancy, making it convenient for bathers.
• 🙂 The soap's buoyancy is achieved through incorporating air bubbles during production, giving it a slightly lower density than water.
• 🧼 The accidental origin story of Ivory soap was debunked when an archival notebook revealed that James Gamble intentionally invented floating soap in 1863.
• 🧼 Ivory soap strategically used marketing techniques, such as soap carving and prize incentives, to increase sales and brand awareness.

Questions & Answers

Q: Why does Ivory soap float?

Air is whipped into the soap mixture before it sets, leaving numerous tiny bubbles in the finished bar. These bubbles make the soap slightly less dense than water, allowing it to float.

Q: Was floating Ivory soap invented by accident?

No. Ivory promoted an origin story about an unnamed employee accidentally mixing a batch too long, but a notebook discovered by an Ivory archivist showed that the process was deliberate.

Q: Who invented floating Ivory soap?

James Gamble, a chemist and the son of company co-founder James Gamble Sr., made floating soap in 1863. His notebook said that he thought the company would make all its stock that way.

Q: When was floating Ivory soap invented and first sold?

James Gamble recorded making floating soap in 1863. The first bar of Ivory floating soap was sold to consumers in 1879 and advertised from the beginning as soap that floats.

Q: How pure is Ivory soap?

Ivory advertised its soap as 99.44% pure. Purity and the ability to float were its two key selling points.

Q: Do the air bubbles affect Ivory soap’s lather?

Yes. Besides helping the bar float, the tiny air bubbles produce a more consistent and bubbly lather when the soap is used.

Q: How did Edward Bernays promote Ivory soap?

Ivory hired PR specialist Edward Bernays in 1923. He persuaded the company to give thousands of free soap bars to schools for children to carve into sculptures, increasing sales and brand awareness as soap carving became popular.

Q: What was Ivory’s sinking-soap promotion?

In 2001, the company intentionally released just over a thousand bars that would not float and offered finders a share of a $250,000 prize. No sinking bars were found to have been turned in, but the campaign increased sales by a good margin.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Ivory soap is 99.44% pure and floats, making it a popular and enduring brand.

• The soap floats because air is whipped into the mixture during production, creating tiny air bubbles that make it less dense than water.

• For over a century, Ivory insisted that the discovery of floating soap was an accidental mistake by an unnamed employee, but it was actually invented by James Gamble and purposefully marketed.