Oh Mr. Sheen, Oh Mr. Sheen...
The housewife's Little Helper, the rotund Mr Sheen, was a familiar sight on Australian television in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. The product was first manufactured in the 1950s in Australia by Samuel Taylor Pty. Ltd (bought out later by British firm Reckitt and Coleman) and back in the day, when few people had heard of the ozone layer, had the distinction of being the first aerosol product in the country.
The housewife's Little Helper, the rotund Mr Sheen, was a familiar sight on Australian television in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. The product was first manufactured in the 1950s in Australia by Samuel Taylor Pty. Ltd (bought out later by British firm Reckitt and Coleman) and back in the day, when few people had heard of the ozone layer, had the distinction of being the first aerosol product in the country.
I Have Seen a Place Where You have Never Been...
Like Louie da Fly, the cartoon character was an easy identifiable figure that the consuming public could warm to and remember and paired with a catchy tune, destined to become an icon in advertising folk lore.. Fictional though he was, he was trustworthy, friendly, non-threatening and unlike Louie, clean.The Mr Sheen theme tune was not an original but based on a famous 1920s Vaudeville song, Mister Gallagher and Mister Shean, which became a huge hit, later performed in various forms by a variety of entertainers. The Ad campaign, launched in the late 50s by the Hansen Rubensohn agency, was created by Brian Henderson and Vic Nicholson and the jingle lyrics by Bob Gibson and Jimmy white.
Although he was growing tired by the 1980s, Mr. Sheen was still performing his housekeeping duties on TV during that decade, in an only slightly updated version of the earlier ad in a stagier, 'musical' form.
In 1997 Mr. Sheen was relaunched and vamped up for a new generation of domestic engineers. The cheerful, balding gentleman is the one constant of the product and manufacturers were loathe to part with him. He is, after all, a marketing legend...and what's more, he knows how to treat a housewife. If you want to catch up with him, like any PR conscious celebrity, he's on Facebook.
