Miracle White Super Cleaner, Drackett Products Company, June 1977

Striking a correct balance between product effectiveness and environmental protection has long been a challenge for manufacturers of certain types of items. This was particularly true in the case of laundry detergents. The detergents of the 1950s and 1960s had generally contained high amounts of trisodium phosphate, a water softener which enabled the detergent to clean more effectively. Unfortunately, studies performed in the early '70s showed that phosphate additives in city wastewater had increased exponentially and were having adverse effects on plants and aquatic animals. As a result, detergent manufacturers began reducing the amount of phosphates used in their formulas, but this often resulted in dingy laundry due to the lowered effectiveness of the cleaning agents. A solution was needed to boost the lower-phosphate detergents' performance, and it came in the form of products like Miracle White Super Cleaner.

Miracle White had been developed in the late 1950s, so it was not a new product. However, after Drackett Products acquired Miracle White from previous manufacturer Beatrice in early 1977, they seized upon the trend toward lower phosphates in detergents as a ripe opportunity to reintroduce the product to the public. And, how better to promote a household cleaning agent than by utilizing the image of one of the most beloved television housekeepers, Ann B. Davis?

When this ad was published in the late spring of 1977, Ann had just wrapped up a handful of appearances on The Brady Bunch Hour as Alice, the housekeeper character she had portrayed on The Brady Bunch from 1969-74. Interestingly, this ad (and other Miracle White ads from the period) does not mention her role as Alice, but rather depicts her as Schultzie, the owner of a fictitious laundromat. Schultzy (slightly different spelling) had been the nickname of Ann's character on an earlier TV series, The Bob Cummings Show, although Schultzy's occupation was that of a secretary rather than a housekeeper. Perhaps licensing issues prevented more direct and accurate references to Ann's previous TV roles, but there seems to be no doubt that Miracle White wanted to connect its product with Ann in the eyes of the consumer public, however indirectly. 

Ann was not the only Brady Bunch cast member to be closely associated with a product during the mid-to-late 1970s. But that's a blog for another day. ;-)