Johnson brothers and the importance of advertising

Johnson brothers recognized the importance of advertising, and Robert Wood Johnson the first was often personally very involved in the development of ads for the Company’s products…sometimes too involved, the people at the advertising agency felt.  Johnson had excellent instincts about what would and wouldn’t work, and he kept J.



Walter Thompson and his advertising agency busy with his many suggestions and changes. Thompson and Johnson were friends, and Thompson handled the Johnson & Johnson account personally.  (Robert Wood Johnson: The Gentleman Rebel, by Lawrence G. Foster, pp. 50-51)  From the beginning, the Company’s ads always were good and some of them were brilliant, with specific ad campaigns becoming a part of popular culture or breaking new ground. 

In keeping with the times – and depending on the product being advertised — some of the earliest ads were wordy and explanatory,

However, it was with ads for Zonweiss, an early tooth-whitening tooth cream, that the Company really got creative.

You can see that The text of the ad stressed the “snowy-white creamy Zonweiss” in its blue jar (the blue enhanced the whiteness of the tooth cream), and included some quotes from satisfied customers – including a U.S. Senator! Praising the product.  The subtle (or not so subtle) inference that could be drawn from the illustration was that Zonweiss tooth cream would make your teeth blindingly white, as bright as the rays of the sun in the picture.

This ad included a poem:

        “When pearly rows of Teeth are seen

        In beauty glistening white and clean,

        No need to ask about the cause,

        Or moralize on Nature’s laws,

        But let your thoughts at once incline

        To ZONWEISS, perfect, pure and fine

        A Dental Cream of cleansing power,

        That grows in favor every hour.”