Kleenex is so tied to sniffles and sneezes that many of us use the name for any tissue at all. Cold season, allergy season, a sad movie, you reach for a Kleenex. So it may come as a surprise that the original product had nothing to do with noses.
When Kleenex was introduced in 1924, it was marketed as a cold cream remover, a soft, disposable way to wipe off cold cream and makeup. It was the first disposable paper facial tissue sold in the Western world, offered as a substitute for face towels or cotton. Only later did people start using it as a throwaway handkerchief.
It Started With a Gas Mask
The story begins during World War I, when the Cellucotton Company developed a crepe paper filter for gas masks. After the war, the company found new uses for its material. In the 1920s, it was turned into the Kotex menstrual pad.
Then the company made the crepe paper thinner and softer still. The result, launched in 1924, was Kleenex. The company liked brand names that were short and easy to say. Kleen, a playful spelling of clean, described what it did. The ex at the end linked it to its sister product, Kotex.
Sold as a Beauty Secret
Cellucotton filed its trademark application on July 12, 1924, describing the product as absorbent pads or sheets for removing cold cream. Nationwide marketing kicked off that September, beginning with an ad for the Walgreen drugstore chain in Chicago and a free sample offer in New York City.
The first magazine ad, in 1925, sold Kleenex as "the new secret of keeping a pretty skin as used by famous movie stars." Glamour, not germs, was the pitch.
It was a genuinely new idea. Back then, people typically took off cold cream with face towels or cotton. A soft sheet of paper you could use once and toss away was something different. In fact, it was the first product of its kind to be marketed anywhere in the Western world.
The Customers Had Other Ideas
A few years after the launch, the company's head researcher tried to convince the head of advertising to promote the tissue for colds and hay fever. The ad chief turned the idea down at first, but agreed to set aside a little ad space mentioning Kleenex as a handkerchief.
That small nudge made a big difference. By the 1930s, Kleenex was being advertised with the slogan "Don't Carry a Cold in Your Pocket," and using it as a disposable handkerchief became the main way people used it. In 1943, the brand even licensed the Little Lulu cartoon character to help spread the word. Sometimes customers really do know best.
A Name That Became a Word
Kleenex became so popular that its name turned into everyday shorthand for any facial tissue, no matter who made it. Dictionaries including Merriam-Webster and Oxford now define it that way, even though, legally, Kleenex is still a registered trademark.
In 1955, the business and its trademark were formally assigned to Kimberly-Clark, which still owns the brand. Today the name is used on products made in 78 countries. So the next time you pull a tissue from the box, remember its glamorous beginnings. That humble square was once a movie star's beauty secret.
