Category Archives: Early Products

It’s January, 1910: exactly 100 years ago.  It’s the start of a new year and a new decade, and Johnson & Johnson is marking that beginning by launching a major new advertising campaign for one of its consumer products:  JOHNSON’S® … Continue reading →

Here’s another special behind the scenes video tour of some lesser known items from Johnson & Johnson history.  If you’ve ever wondered where the last loading dock for horse drawn wagons at Johnson & Johnson is located, which unusual 1960s fashion was … Continue reading →

What Johnson & Johnson ad was so popular that people were inspired to make their own versions of it?  Hint:  the ad ran for an incredible 30 years and, when the Company tried to update it, consumers protested.  Here’s another … Continue reading →

At the end of my next to last post, I asked the question:  what did people use to fix everything before duct tape was invented by a Johnson & Johnson affiliate company in 1942?  Was there a “duct tape” before … Continue reading →

About this time of year almost 100 years ago, Johnson & Johnson would have been reminding you that it was time for Clean Up Week.  What was Clean Up Week, and why was a company nagging people to clean their … Continue reading →

What was the most unusual job in Johnson & Johnson history?  Was it digging this tunnel?  Working a gigantic printing press? Running a huge water filtration system? Making Mosquitoons? Or quality testing our short-lived cola tonic with the sherry base? … Continue reading →

What’s the weirdest thing ever made by the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies?  Was it a tonic medicine with a sherry base?  Or sausage casings?  Or doll clothing?  (Yes, we once made that too, out of non-woven fabric.  That’s … Continue reading →

I recently spoke with a reader of this blog whose father worked as a salesman for Johnson & Johnson in the early 1920s. He told me that his father was one of the first people to demonstrate a new invention … Continue reading →

Throughout its history, Johnson & Johnson has been known for developing and making products in response to needs in society…such as the first commercially available sterile surgical dressings.  Occasionally, though, the Company produced a product that helped fill a more … Continue reading →

  Dental floss has been called “the new duct tape” (a product that also has a tie to Johnson & Johnson!) because of its many inventive uses by consumers.  As bizarre as some of these uses may be, the product’s origins … Continue reading →