Colgate – the menage a trois toothpaste

This commercial begins (as did all commercials in the 1950s) with the guys and gals flocking to the local college soda shop. Yes, it’s a scene right out of Archie comics until Harry shows up…”When handsome Harry joins the session, he makes a real cool three way impression.”

Huh? Is Harry trying to initiate a group grope?

Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your own personal sexual mores) they’re actually talking about the three way effect of Colgate toothpaste. It turns out that the beauty science behind this little morality play is in the ingredient called Gardol. (Get it…Guard All?)

At first I assumed this was just clever branding for fluoride which is the active ingredient in most toothpastes. But I was surprised to find that Gardol was actually the trademark for the surfactant the Colgate used. Rather than sodium lauryl sulfate (which is still commonly used in toothpastes) they opted for a milder version known sodium lauryl sarcosinate.

The good news is Harry and his chums can have three way white teeth. The bad news is they’ll have to wait another 50 years or so for twerking to be invented.