Ajax (cleaning product)
Ajax logo
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| Launch year | 1947 |
|---|---|
| Company |
Colgate-Palmolive (US and Canadian detergents rights owned by Phoenix Brands) |
| Availability | Yes |
Ajax is a brand of cleaning products, introduced by Colgate-Palmolive in 1947 for a powdered household and industrial cleaner. It was one of the company's first major brands. The cleanser ingredients include sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate, sodium carbonate, and quartz.
The Ajax name was transferred to a line of household cleaning products and detergents; the line enjoyed its greatest success in the 1960s and early 70s. Ajax All-Purpose Cleaner with Ammonia, introduced in 1962, was the first major competitor to Procter and Gamble's Mr. Clean (debuted 1958). Ajax' success as the so-called "White Tornado" forced Procter and Gamble to introduce its own ammoniated cleaner, Top Job, in 1963.
Other Ajax products included Ajax Bucket of Powder, an ammoniated power floor cleaner (1943); a short-lived spray cleaner (1960); Ajax Laundry Detergent (1964); and Ajax Window Cleaner with Hex ammonia (1965). The last successful Ajax line extension in North America, Ajax for Dishes, debuted in 1971; now known as Ajax Dishwashing Liquid, it and the flagship powdered cleanser are the only two Ajax products sold to consumers by Colgate in the US. The brand name continues on a line of industrial detergents, cleaners and disinfectants.Colgate-Palmolive Company sold US and Canadian rights to the Ajax brand name on laundry detergents, as well as to other laundry products as Fab and Cold Power, to Phoenix Brands in 2005.
Ajax Laundry Detergent was available in a liquid formula, with or without bleach, beginning in the mid-1980s.
In the Philippines, Ajax became the popular detergent brand in the market from 1960s until its discontinuation in the year 2000 due to the major popularity of two largest rival detergent brands in the Philippine market today, Surf of Unilever and Tide of Procter and Gamble.
Three Ajax Spray n' Wipe products (an all-purpose cleaner, a bathroom cleaner, and a window cleaner), well known in Australia and New Zealand, are among market leaders.
The original Ajax powder slogan was "Stronger than dirt!", a reference to the muscular hero Ajax of Greek mythology. Some Ajax dish soaps now feature the trademarked slogan "Stronger than grease!" which may be a pun on "Greece.". Another early slogan was "Ajax... the foaming cleanser!"
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Wikipedia