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Old Spice

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Old Spice
Product typeMen's grooming products
OwnerProcter & Gamble
CountryUnited States
IntroducedJune 19, 1937; 89 years ago (1937-06-19)
(as Early American Old Spice)
MarketsWorldwide
Previous ownersShulton Company
Tagline"Smell like a man, man."
Websiteoldspice.com

Old Spice is an American brand offering male grooming products including aftershaves, deodorants and antiperspirants, shampoos, body washes, shaving cream, and soaps. It is manufactured by Procter & Gamble. Old Spice was launched as an expansion of the Early American Old Spice line created by William Lightfoot Schultz's soap and toiletries company, Shulton Inc., in 1937. Early American Old Spice was marketed to women, and Old Spice was marketed as a men's fragrance and released before Christmas 1937.[1]

History

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Old Spice products were originally manufactured by the Shulton Company,[2] founded in 1937 by William Lightfoot Schultz. A buyer at Bullock's in Los Angeles made Schultz aware of the emerging popularity of colonial American–style furniture, a trend spurred by the then-recent opening of Colonial Williamsburg. Shultz reasoned that an Early Americana–themed cosmetics line might also find favor.[3] The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York collection of early American objects provided a source of inspiration for packaging design; for the fragrance, Schultz was inspired by his mother's potpourri, and as a result, the first Old Spice product in 1937 was a woman's scent called Early American Old Spice. The product was received well and therefore was followed by Old Spice for men in 1938.[4]

In 1970, Shulton became a subsidiary of American Cyanamid.[5] In June 1990, Procter & Gamble purchased the Old Spice brand from American Cyanamid.[6]

Products

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Original fragrance

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Schultz worked with perfumer Bert Hauck at Dodge & Olcott to create Early American Old Spice, which was marketed as a women's fragrance. They began with a scent Hauck had already developed, then refined it by adding notes until it evoked Schultz's memory of his grandmother's spice jug. The finished fragrance is categorized as a spicy amber on the modern fragrance wheel, with notes of rose petals and cloves. [7]: 35  Shulton launched Early American Old Spice in 1937.[8] Hauck developed Old Spice as a variation of Early American Old Spice to be marketed to men. Like Early American, it is an amber fragrance but it has citrus notes:[7]: 35 

  • Top notes: Notably orange; also aldehydes, allspice, clary sage, lemon, lime, and star anise
  • Middle notes: Notably cinnamon and clove; also bay leaf, geranium, heliotrope, jasmine, nutmeg, pimento berry, and rose
  • Base notes: Notably vanilla and musk; also amber, benzoin, cedarwood, olibanum, and tonka bean

Perfumers have noted that Old Spice shares dominant notes with Coca-Cola (citrus, cinnamon, and vanilla), as well as l'Eau de Lubin (1798) by Parfums Lubin.[7]: 36 

In response to a customer review in 2019, Old Spice stated that the Original After Shave scent was changed in 2016 'to comply with new regulations.'[9]

Bottle and packaging

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A pair of ivory pttery mugs sit on a wooden table, each turned to display the blue painting of a ship, with red script below identifying the ships' names.
Shaving mugs with the Grand Turk and Recovery ships
A full-page color ad from a magazine has a deep blue background with a black line drawing of a ship, and photos of the ivory bottles and red boxes for talcum powder and aftershave lotion, and a shaving mug, plus a tan cardboard box decorated with ship drawings and lined in red.
1944 advertisement shows product packaging
A Gillette Techmatic safety razor and metal squeeze-tube of Old Spice brushless shaving cream rest on a white background.
This razor and shaving cream was used by the Apollo 11 crew members during the flight.
Two white bottles lie flat on a wooden surface to display the front labels, which show sailboats.
Bottles from 1992 with sailboat drawings

Artist Enid Edson designed the original packaging. For Early American Old Spice, her inspiration was Zeruah H. Huernsey Caswell's hand-embroidered carpet[10] displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For Old Spice, her inspiration was Colonial-era apothecary bottles. A.E. Hull Pottery Company developed the first aftershave and cologne bottles, which were made of white pottery with hand-painted drawings of the Grand Turk privateer used during the American Revolutionary War. In about 1948, a second ship drawing was added: the 1794 Recovery Salem. The bottles were packaged in cardboard boxes that had drawings of five different ships. In the mid-1940s, the packaging changed from pottery to glass. Wheaton Glass Company developed the glass, which had the luster of pottery.[7]: 36–37 

In the 1990s, after Proctor & Gamble bought the fragrance line, they made other changes: the sailing ship was replaced by a sailboat; the glass bottles of eau de toilette and after shave had a plastic button as a cap; and its color was changed from light gray to white in 1992. In 2008, the white glass bottles gave way to plastic and the gray stoppers to red.

Old Spice's buoy-shaped bottle cologne or aftershave is available in its original scent as well as Pure Sport.

Ships

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Almost all of the vessels named on Old Spice packaging correspond to real ships, most of which are drawn from Salem, Massachusetts's historic merchant fleet, with a smaller number honoring famous U.S. Navy frigates and 19th-century racing yachts; only after Procter & Gamble's 1990 acquisition of the brand did the packaging shift to an unnamed, generic sailboat/yacht logo. Paintings of many of these ships are in the Peabody Essex Museum, which holds the collection of the former Peabody Museum of Salem.

Ship namePackagingShip notes
Grand Turk1938–1990s
Original ship logo; also on the 1986 commemorative nautical stein[7]: 36–37 		300-ton privateer commissioned by Elias Hasket Derby for use in the American Revolutionary War and later the first ship on the Old China Trade.[11]
Friendship1940–unknown[12]Built in 1796–1797, the 342-ton ship launched from Salem to make 15 voyages to China, Indonesia, India, Venezuela, Spain, and Russia. It was captured by the British during the War of 1812.[13][11]
Recovery1940s–1992
Cologne bottle in the 1940s; shaving mugs from the 1960s until mugs were discontinued in 1992.[12]		The first American vessel to visit Mokha, it traveled from Salem, Massachusetts to Mokha, Yemen, and back, helping start the American coffee trade.[14][15][11]: 46 
Mount Vernon1940s–unspecified
Used on packaging for talcum in about 1945; in 1952, it appears on a travel talc bottle as the only Old Spice ship to travel to sail to the right[12]		A 350-ton ship from Salem and owned and commanded by Elias Hasket Derby, it engaged with French frigates off the coast of Spain during the Napoleonic Wars while carrying Cuban sugar.[16][17][11]
Sooloo Iunspecified[12]A 440-ton ship built in 1840 and owned by Salem merchants trading with China, the Philippines, Java, and other Southeast Asian ports; she was lost off the coast of Sumatra in 1855.[11]: 49 
USS Essex1940s–1950s
On some gift set boxes[12]		A 32-gun sailing frigate built in Salem and launched in 1799; it participated in several wars before it was captured in the War of 1812.[11]: 5 
Experiment1940s–mid-1950s[12]The brigantine Experiment of Newburyport was built in Amesbury, Massachusetts in 1803.[11]: 26 
Flying Cloud1985
On a flask decanter[12]		Built in Boston, this clipper set a world record for the fastest passage from New York to San Antonio, which she held from 1854–1989.[11]: 11 
Ariel1990
On the 1990 commemorative nautical stein[12]		Famous tea clipper ship of the 1860s that made voyages between China and England.
Columbia (1899 yacht)1989
On the 1989 commemorative nautical stein[12]		A yacht that won the America's Cup races in 1899 and 1901.
12 Metre1988
On a 1988 etched glass stein[12]		Image was of a generic 12 Metre racing sloop racing in the America's Cup; it was not a named vessel.
Magic (Madgie)1989
On a commemorative flask[12]		92-ton centerboard schooner yacht, built 1867; won the America's Cup in 1870.
Birmingham1970s
On boxed gift sets, this resembled an oil painting[12]		Product inscription only identifies it as "Ship Birmingham, New York, 1825"
Hamilton1970s
On boxed gift sets, this resembled an oil painting[12]		A 164-ton brig built at Scituate, Massachusetts[11]: 32 
Maria Theresa1970s
On boxed gift sets, this resembled an oil painting[12]		A schooner built in Newburyport[11]: 82 
Propontis1970s
On boxed gift sets, this resembled an oil painting[12]		A Salem ship built by Thatcher Magoun in 1833[11]: 46 
Salem1970s
On boxed gift sets, this resembled an oil painting[12]
John Wesley1970s
On boxed gift sets, this resembled an oil painting[12]		A barque built in 1852, in Searsport, Maine.[18]: 192 
Star of the West1970s'
On boxed gift sets, this resembled an oil painting		Product inscription only identifies it as "Star of the West, Cohasset, 1840"
USS Constitution and HMS Javaunspecified
Commemorative boxed set with cannon-shaped bottle		On December 29, 1812 in a single-ship action, the USS Constitution defeated and sank HMS Java off Brazil[11]: 61 
United Statesunspecified

Expanded line

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In the 1970s, Old Spice shifted from being a shaving brand to a fragrance brand by introducing signature scents like Old Spice Burley.[19]

Throughout the 2000s, Procter & Gamble introduced many forms of deodorant, body washes, and body sprays in several scents under the Old Spice name. In early 2008, the original Old Spice scent was repackaged as "Classic Scent", both in the aftershave and cologne versions. Old Spice Classic shower gel was sold using the slogan "The original. If your grandfather hadn't worn it, you wouldn't exist."

In 2006, Old Spice introduced a fragrance, OS Signature.[20]

In 2014, Old Spice expanded its product line-up to men's haircare by introducing shampoos, two-in-one shampoo and conditioners, and styling products.[21]

Advertising

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Jingle and sound mark

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Old Spice has used variations of its whistle jingle since 1953. The melody was inspired by the folk tune, "Scotland the Brave". Originally, the "Old Spice Sea Shanty" was a full song, created by Ginger Johnson for the company.[22][23] Toots Thielemans was the whistler in recordings.[24][25] In the 1990s, it was stripped down to an eight-note penny whistle tune that is still used in the 2020s.[26]

"The Mark of a Man" surfer campaigns

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In the late 1970s and 1980s, Old Spice television advertising campaigns in the United Kingdom and Ireland featured a man on a surfboard accompanied by Carl Orff's O Fortuna from Carmina Burana, with the tagline "Old Spice – The Mark Of A Man"; and was featured on The 100 Greatest TV Ads.[27][28]

"The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" and viral campaigns

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An advertising campaign developed by Wieden + Kennedy in 2010 featuring Isaiah Mustafa became popular after the first advertisement, titled "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like".[29][30] Following this campaign, Old Spice introduced Fabio Lanzoni to challenge Isaiah Mustafa for the Old Spice Guy title in an online advertising campaign.

After the success of "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like", Old Spice released "The Response Campaign". Over the course of two and a half days, the brand filmed 186 videos featuring Mustafa engaging in conversation with fans and celebrities.[31]

In 2013, the Old Spice Scratch 'N Sniff banner ad campaign promised to let visitors "smell the Internet": people could provide their contact information and receive a sniffable banner in the mail. This campaign was designed by Wieden+Kennedy to launch the Wolfthorn line.[32]

The commercial "Momsong" became popular in 2014 as a part of the brand's "Smellcome to Manhood" campaign.[33]

In early 2016, Old Spice introduced a new brand character, the Legendary Man, with two TV commercials, "Rocket Car" and "Whale", to launch the Hardest Working Collection.[34] Old Spice also launched a series of digital infomercials with Canadian actor Steven Ogg. Later in 2016, the brand introduced two additional Old Spice characters, actors Thomas Beaudoin and Alberto Cardenas, in an advertising campaign for the Red Zone product collection.[35]

In 2019, Old Spice named actor, comedian, and writer Deon Cole as its global brand ambassador for its five-piece line.[36][37] In January 2020, Old Spice brought back their viral 2010 campaign "Smell Like a Man, Man" to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the original commercial, and worked with Wieden + Kennedy once again for the reboot.[38]

Sports sponsorships

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A red race car with the Old Spice logo emblazoned on its hood speeds across a track.
Tony Stewart's No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet at Martinsville Speedway in 2009

Old Spice has partnered with the NFL and featured football stars including Ray Lewis, Greg Jennings, and Wes Welker in various TV and digital campaigns. In 2012, former NFL player Terry Crews was featured in the brand's viral hit "Muscle Music". The interactive video allowed people to make music through different musical instruments rigged to corresponding muscles on Crews's body.[39]

Old Spice has sponsored many cars throughout the NASCAR world from 2004 to 2010. They first sponsored Ricky Craven at Talladega in 2004, then moved to Tony Stewart in Busch Races with Joe Gibbs Racing and Kevin Harvick Incorporated. In 2009, they followed Stewart when he formed his own team and car number 14 car for 2009 and 2010 with a win at Watkins Glen. Old Spice returned to NASCAR in 2019 to sponsor Corey LaJoie and Go Fas Racing's 32 car for the 2019 Daytona 500. The car had a unique design in which Corey LaJoie's face was designed on the hood of the car. The team finished 18th in that race.[40] Old Spice was also featured as the sponsor of John C. Reilly's character, Cal Naughton Jr., in the 2006 comedy Talladega Nights. The brand returned to the sport for a one-off appearance in 2023, sponsoring Chase Briscoe and Stewart–Haas Racing's 14 car for the 2023 YellaWood 500.[41]

Awards

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Old Spice has accumulated 37 awards as of 2016 at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The brand was awarded two Gold Cannes Lions for Creative Effectiveness for "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" in 2011 and "Smellcome to Manhood" in 2016. The former also won the Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Commercial in 2010.[42]

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "How Old Spice Has Always Remained New ~ Fragrance Reviews ~ Fragrantica". Retrieved 2016-08-02.
  2. ↑ "How Your Favorite Brands Reinvented Themselves and Made Big Money". GOBankingRates. 2021-04-27. Retrieved 2021-08-13.
  3. ↑ "Shulton". Cosmetics and Skin. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
  4. ↑ Studios, Fastco (2014-12-18). "The Brand Your Brand Could Be Like: How Old Spice Went Viral". Fast Company. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  5. ↑ Hammer, Alexander R. (December 22, 1970). "Cyanamid in Pact for Shulton, Inc". New York Times. p. 49.
  6. ↑ "P&G buys Old Spice, Santa Fe lines for $300 million". UPI. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Edwards, Michael (2024). American Legends: The evolution of American fragrances. Nice, France: Exigence Puissance 3. ISBN 978-0-6454839-0-1.
  8. ↑ "Shulton". Cosmetics and Skin. Archived from the original on June 1, 2025.
  9. ↑ OldSpice The Old Spice Team (January 16, 2019). "Classic After Shave: Comments". Old Spice. We never want to leave you feeling disappointed, James, and while our Original After Shave scent was changed in 2016 to comply with new regulations, you should still be getting a great, lasting scent.
  10. ↑ "Embroidered Carpet". The Met Collection. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 The Marine Room of the Peabody Museum of Salem (PDF). Salem, Massachusetts: Peabody Museum of Salem. 1921. p. 49.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 "Old Spice Ships". Old Spice Collectibles.
  13. ↑ "Salem Maritime National Historical Park: Voyages of FRIENDSHIP". National Park Service.
  14. ↑ "NH 108298 RECOVERY of Salem, 1794". Naval History and Heritage Command. U.S. Navy.
  15. ↑ Ukers, William H. (1922). All About Coffee. New York: The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal Company. p. 468.
  16. ↑ Salem Maritime National Historic Site (PDF). National Park Service. 1962.
  17. ↑ Ukers, William H. (1922). All About Coffee. New York: The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal Company. p. 468.
  18. ↑ Brewington, M.V.; Brewington, Dorothy (1981). Marine Paintings and Drawings in the Peabody Museum (PDF). Salem, Massachusetts: Peabody Museum of Salem. ISBN 0-87577-066-5.
  19. ↑ Hirschman, Elizabeth C. (2016-01-22). Branding Masculinity: Tracing the Cultural Foundations of Brand Meaning. Routledge. ISBN 9781317386056.
  20. ↑ "OS Signature by Old Spice". Parfumo.
  21. ↑ Newman, Andrew Adam (2014-02-17). "In Shampoo Ads for Men, It's Not Just the Hair, It's What It Does for You". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
  22. ↑ King, Ashley (August 7, 2019). "Old Spice Faces Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Over Its Whistle Theme". Digital Music News.
  23. ↑ "Old Spice Radio Jingle". YouTube.
  24. ↑ Pulliam, Becca (May 18, 2012). "The Harmonica-Playing Baron Of Belgium". National Public Radio (NPR).
  25. ↑ "The Original Old Spice Whistle". YouTube.
  26. ↑ "Old Spice: Classic Whistle Jingle". YouTube.
  27. ↑ "1970s Old Spice Ad". YouTube. 18 November 2012. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12.
  28. ↑ Greiving, Tim (21 March 2025). "Everything you need to know about 'Carmina Burana,' Hollywood's go-to music for epic movie moments". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 3 April 2026.
  29. ↑ "Old Spice Response Campaign Was More Popular Than Obama". www.adweek.com. 5 August 2010. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  30. ↑ Studios, Fastco (2014-12-18). "The Brand Your Brand Could Be Like: How Old Spice Went Viral". Fast Company. Retrieved 2016-09-09. [verification needed]
  31. ↑ "Case Study: Old Spice Response Campaign". D&AD. March 4, 2014.
  32. ↑ Clarke, Tia (April 23, 2013). "Sniffable Internet Ads". Trend Hunter.
  33. ↑ "Old Spice's 'Momsong' commercial is another viral hit". Los Angeles Times. 6 January 2014. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  34. ↑ "Old Spice | The Hardest Working Collection | Wieden+Kennedy". www.wk.com. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  35. ↑ "2 New Old Spice Guys Kick Off Hilariously Weird 'Smell 'Em Who's Boss' Campaign". 27 June 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  36. ↑ "Old Spice Goes to Ends of Earth to Find New Old Spice Guy Deon Cole and the Freshest Ingredients Forged From Nature to Deliver the Real Freshness of the All-New Fresher Collection". news.pg.com. Retrieved 2021-08-13.
  37. ↑ "Old Spice unveils new Fresher collection, brand ambassador". Drug Store News. Retrieved 2021-08-13.
  38. ↑ Graham, Megan (2020-01-22). "The Old Spice guy is back for the 10th anniversary of 'Smell Like a Man, Man' commercial". CNBC. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  39. ↑ "Terry Crews Makes Muscle Music With Old Spice (And Now It's Your Turn)". Co.Create. 2012-08-28. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  40. ↑ "2019 Daytona 500 Results". Retrieved 2019-02-17.
  41. ↑ ""Shake and Bake" for Chase Briscoe and Ryan Preece at Talladega". Jayski's Silly Season Site. September 25, 2023. Retrieved September 8, 2025.
  42. ↑ "Old Spice customization through Productimize Simple Solution". Productimize. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
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