Rinso was the brand name of a laundry soap most commonly used in the United States and the United Kingdom. It was manufactured by Unilever, starting in the early 20th century.

Rinso was the first mass-marketed soap powder. It sold well from its inception in 1918. It was advertised widely on radio in the 1930s. In the 1950s sales plummeted when a new detergent, Tide, proved to be much more popular. Rinso was revamped in the mid-1960s, and given a new name, Sunshine Rinso. The justification for the name change was that the new and improved Rinso now had "sunshine whiteners".

Despite heavy ad backing (for example, a heavily played commercial during this time period was a pop version of a Sunshine Rinso jingle, set to You Are My Sunshine), sales did not improve, and Rinso eventually disappeared from store shelves in both countries by the mid-1970s.

Rinso was, in effect, replaced with another Unilever detergent, Surf in its two major markets.

However, Rinso is still being made by Unilever for the Turkish market.

Rinso might be making a comeback in the U.S. A Southern California chain (99 cents only store) has been carrying Rinso brand products for a few years now. It might even be their own brand, possibly having bought the rights to use the name.

External Links

Turkish Rinso site (in Turkish)