Mr Sheen is the brand name of a range of cleaning materials, mainly floor and furniture polish, created in Australia in the 1950s by Samuel Taylor Pty Ltd. An aerosol, the product uses a combination of

silicones A silicone or polysiloxane is a polymer made up of siloxane (−R2Si−O−SiR2−, where R = organic group). They are typically colorless oils or rubber-like substances. Silicones are used in sealants, adhesives, lubricants, medicine, cookin ...

waxes Waxes are a diverse class of organic compounds that are lipophilic, malleable solids near ambient temperatures. They include higher alkanes and lipids, typically with melting points above about 40 °C (104 °F), melting to give low ...

and solvents and is currently manufactured by

Reckitt Reckitt Benckiser Group plc, trading as Reckitt, is a British multinational consumer goods company headquartered in Slough, England. It is a producer of health, hygiene and nutrition products. The company was formed in March 1999 by the mer ...

. Alongside Australia, Mr Sheen is also available in

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Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

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and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, as well as in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

where it is called Mr Min and in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

where it is known as Mr Frend. The Mr Sheen character and branding, despite numerous revamps, has a high level of recognition amongst consumers, so much so that the company has been able to go for periods of time without even advertising the product, such as in the early 1990s.

History

Back in the 1950s, the Australian cleaning product market lacked any aerosol-based products, hence the development of Mr Sheen by Samuel Taylor Pty Ltd, it was the first such product to be offered in the Australian market. The popularity of Mr Sheen received a large boost when the advertising agency Hansen Rubensohn developed both a

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

and a character for the product in the late 1950s. The Australian character (supposedly modeled on one of Samuel Taylor Pty Ltd's employees at the time) was created by Vic Nicholson and Brian Henderson as a smiling, rosy-cheeked, short bald man with spectacles in a black suit (voiced by

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); a jingle based on '' Mister Gallagher and Mister Shean'' was created at the same time by Bob Gibson and Jimmy White. Both the character and jingle have proved effective branding agents in Australia, where 95% of the populace are capable of recognising the character and jingle as belonging to the Mr Sheen product range. In 1969, British multinational

consumer goods A final good or consumer good is a final product ready for sale that is used by the consumer to satisfy current wants or needs, unlike a intermediate good, which is used to produce other goods. A microwave oven or a bicycle is a final good, b ...

company Reckitt Benckiser (then called

Reckitt & Colman Reckitt Benckiser Group plc, trading as Reckitt, is a British multinational consumer goods company headquartered in Slough, England. It is a producer of health, hygiene and nutrition products. The company was formed in March 1999 by the merg ...

) acquired Samuel Taylor Pty Ltd; the new owners expanded the range of the product out to the

and

. The British version of the character is a cartoon caricature of a

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

biplane pilot (originally voiced by

Willie Rushton William George Rushton (18 August 1937 – 11 December 1996) was an English cartoonist, satirist, comedian, actor and performer who co-founded the satirical magazine ''Private Eye''. Early life Rushton was born 18 August 1937 in 3 Wilbraham Plac ...

in the television advertisements) who flies around the house on a dusting cloth cleaning tables, banisters and television sets, using the slogan "Mr Sheen shines umpteen things clean".

References

Cleaning product brands Cleaning product components Cleaning products Reckitt brands Australian brands 1950s establishments in Australia {{product-stub