Wisk detergent discontinued

[TheFugitive]

Just came to find out that Wisk detergent, which was always my mom's favorite,
has been discontinued.

Some of us are old enough to remember their "Ring Around the Collar" ads.
They truly made Wisk an iconic brand.  The brand was sold to Sun Products in 2008
when Unilever decided to exit the laundry business in North America.  Sun was recently
acquired by a European firm that manufactures Persil.  They have decided to stop making
Wisk and concentrate all marketing efforts on Persil.

I'm not a marketing guy, but I don't get that.  You have an iconic American brand
whose commercial tag line has been rolling around in heads for fifty years, and you
replace it with a brand that is completely unknown here (aside from my brother who
married into an Irish expat family).

[Pikapower]

This thread has got me thinking that we should have a board for non-food discontinued products on here so that we can have to discuss about now defunct non-food products.

[retailisking]

I'm not a marketing guy, but I don't get that.  You have an iconic American brand
whose commercial tag line has been rolling around in heads for fifty years, and you
replace it with a brand that is completely unknown here (aside from my brother who
married into an Irish expat family).

It's the same mentality that drives P&G's ongoing cull of its second and lower-tier brands. It costs a lot to market CPGs, so it's more efficient to focus your ad dollars on your highest-margin brands. A similar phenomenon happened with Sanka; it was cheaper for General Foods to market Maxwell House decaf than to continue to support a separate brand.

[TheFugitive]

Another good example is Gleem toothpaste, which was discontinued by P&G
two years ago, but is still being made and sold as a particular variety of Crest
(I don't recall which one).

[TheFugitive]

So it FINALLY gets warm in Pittsburgh (on the cusp of June) and I haul out this lightweight,
breathable yellow cotton dress shirt I have.  I notice the horrible grungy ring around the collar.

I have stashed in a basement cabinet the last bottle of Wisk that was rescued from my
mother's house after she died last summer.  I took the most sparing little bit and rubbed
it into the collar with a toothbrush.  I let it soak for ten minutes.

Damn if that ring did not come out beautifully.  Worked just as-advertised.
They really should not have discontinued this product.

[JimSawhill]

So it FINALLY gets warm in Pittsburgh (on the cusp of June) and I haul out this lightweight,
breathable yellow cotton dress shirt I have.  I notice the horrible grungy ring around the collar.

I have stashed in a basement cabinet the last bottle of Wisk that was rescued from my
mother's house after she died last summer.  I took the most sparing little bit and rubbed
it into the collar with a toothbrush.  I let it soak for ten minutes.

Damn if that ring did not come out beautifully.  Worked just as-advertised.
They really should not have discontinued this product.

I hope someone will revive Wisk. Someone revived Cingular and Coleco brands..along with Brim coffee. Brim make coffee makers and coffee accessories and Cingular make cell phone accessories...

[BillyGr]

So it FINALLY gets warm in Pittsburgh (on the cusp of June) and I haul out this lightweight,
breathable yellow cotton dress shirt I have.  I notice the horrible grungy ring around the collar.

I have stashed in a basement cabinet the last bottle of Wisk that was rescued from my
mother's house after she died last summer.  I took the most sparing little bit and rubbed
it into the collar with a toothbrush.  I let it soak for ten minutes.

Damn if that ring did not come out beautifully.  Worked just as-advertised.
They really should not have discontinued this product.

Have you tried the new offering (Persil)?  We have some here but haven't had a reason to try it like that yet - perhaps it's not really all that different, save the name?

[TheFugitive]

I have tried Persil.  It seems to do a decent job with a regular load of wash,
but is not nearly as good as Wisk for presoaking cruddy collars.