cleaning product
Cleaning agents or hard-surface cleaners are substances (usually liquids, powders, sprays, or granules) used to remove dirt, including dust, stains, bad smells, and clutter on surfaces. Purposes of cleaning agents include health, beauty, removing ...
s that is made by
Procter & Gamble
The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...
. Introduced in 1999 the brand uses the " razor-and-blades" business model, whereby the consumer purchases the handle assembly at a low price, but must continue to purchase replacement refills and pads over the lifespan of the product. Swiffer has become a half-billion dollar brand in fifteen countries.
Origin
The electrostatic cleaning system which P&G sells under the Swiffer brand was created by Kao Japan. An excerpt from a 1999 BizJournals article explains that "P&G can't claim it came up with the wifferidea on its own. A similar product was already on the market in Japan, by a company called Kao". "KAO was marketing this product in Japan for five years," said Cynthia Georgeson, spokeswoman for S.C. Johnson, a $5 billion-a-year, family-run business with brands including Pledge, Johnson Wax, Raid and Windex. King said P&G knew of the Kao product, but did not seek a licensing agreement."
Products
Current products
All the products below have a refill system. Both the product and the refills are currently marketed.
* Swiffer
Bissell
Bissell Inc., also known as Bissell Homecare, is an American privately owned vacuum cleaner and floor care product manufacturing corporation headquartered in Walker, Michigan in Greater Grand Rapids. Like Swiffer mops, it uses a refill system for the filter, which is a common model across the air filtration industry. This product line is manufactured and marketed by a P&G
licensee
A licensee can mean the holder of a license or, in U.S. tort law, a licensee is a person who is on the property of another, despite the fact that the property is not open to the general public, because the owner of the property has allowed the li ...
, Project Air LLC, of
Cranberry
Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. In Britain, cranberry may refer to the native species ''Vaccinium oxycoccos'', while in North America, cranberry ...
, New Jersey.
* Swiffer Dusters are disposable dusters. They are advertised as 360° (All-Around) but the traditional Swiffer Dusters are also available (one side only). The optional extensible handle is 3 feet long, fully extended. The Swiffer Duster was introduced in 2003.
* Swiffer Dust-N-Shine is a furniture polish. The product utilizes a user-supplied dusting cloth as the pad.
* Swiffer Sweeper is a combination sweeper-mop. That is, it can use either dry or wet-type disposable cloths. The wet cloths are for mopping and they have scrubbing strips which are for scrubbing tough dried-on greases. The dry type is for sweeping fine dirt, dust, hair, lint, and more. Originally, only the dry cloths were available, and was branded simply as "Swiffer" since it was the only product. Wet cloths for mopping were introduced in 2001.
* Swiffer Sweep and Trap was introduced in 2013 and has blades that grab big particles (like cereal) while a dry cloth picks up smaller particles, such as dust or lint.
* Swiffer Sweep + Vac is a lightweight vacuum cleaner. It utilizes a dry cloth for removing lint and fine dirt, while the vacuum picks up larger crumbs. As with all bagless vacuums, a removable filter needs to be cleaned after each use, and eventually replaced when too dirty to clean. The system cannot utilize wet cloths. It was introduced in 2004. At some point, the name was changed to Swiffer Sweeper-VAC and was discontinued in 2013. It was brought back in 2016.
* Swiffer Sweeper X-Large has a cloth head that is 1½ times larger than the regular Swiffer Sweeper. It utilizes two regular-sized wet cloths or one dry cloth designed for the system. This product was formerly called "Swiffer Max", "Swiffer Sweeper Heavy Duty" and "Swiffer Sweeper Professional". It was introduced in 2001. In 2013, it was once again renamed Swiffer Sweeper X-Large.
* Swiffer WetJet is a mop. It only utilizes WetJet brand solvent in a special, unopenable bottle. It was introduced in 2001 in Canada and Belgium but came to the United States in 2002. Its original name was the Swiffer WetJet Power Mop. It was originally blue-green in color until its redesign in 2006 when it changed to a purple color. It was modified again in 2009 with double sprayers added.
Past products
The following products have been discontinued.
* Swiffer Carpet Flick is a carpet-sweeping device that used a disposable, sticky card to collect dust, pet hair and fine dirt. Introduced January 1, 2005, it was discontinued December 31, 2008. The refills are also no longer listed on the P&G website; retail supplies can still be found, but are now expensive.
* Swiffer Mitts were dry cloths that could fit in your hand. Introduced in 2002, they were discontinued in 2004. Its inventor is Willow Jackson. It is the only Swiffer product that is not a system (permanent unit and refills), as effectively the user's hand serves as the permanent part of the "system." It is no longer listed on P&G's website, but can still be found at retail.
Reusable cloths
Because of the requirement to dispose of the cloth after each clean, using the device frequently can be quite costly. Because of this multiple third-party companies have created cloth reusable pads typically made out of a
microfiber
Microfiber (or microfibre) is synthetic fiber finer than one denier or decitex/thread, having a diameter of less than ten micrometers. A strand of silk is about one denier and about a fifth of the diameter of a human hair.
The most common ty ...
fabric that can be machine washed after each use.
Television commercials
The TV commercials for Swiffer often have 1970s/1980s music playing in the background. The old commercials start with a person having their old cleaning products and proceed to switch to Swiffer Products. The first series of commercials begin with a woman using the Swiffer product, while her old cleaning product (usually a mop, broom or feather duster), having a persona, is left out and wants to be used again. The woman continues to use her Swiffer and the mop is left by itself. The second series of commercials include the mop, broom or feather duster moving on to a new girlfriend (including a bowling ball, a rake or an antique doll). A commercial announcer (voiced by
Blaze Berdahl
Blaze Autumn Berdahl (born September 6, 1980) is an American actress best known for her roles as Lenni Frazier in the children's television series ''Ghostwriter'' and Ellie Creed in the film ''Pet Sematary'' (1989).
Early life
Berdahl was bo ...
) states, "Switch to Swiffer, and you'll dump your old (mop, broom, duster). But don't worry. He'll find someone else." Notable songs used in these commercials include " Whip It" by
Devo
Devo (, originally ) is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a ...
, "
Don't You Want Me
"Don't You Want Me" is a song by British synthpop group the Human League (credited on the cover as The Human League 100). It was released on 27 November 1981 as the fourth single from their third studio album, '' Dare'' (1981). The band's best ...
" by
Human League
The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album ''Dare' ...
, "
One Way or Another
"One Way or Another" is a song by American new wave band Blondie from their 1978 album ''Parallel Lines''. Lyrically, the song was inspired by Blondie frontwoman Deborah Harry's experience with a stalker in the early 1970s, an incident which ...
Player
Player may refer to:
Role or adjective
* Player (game), a participant in a game or sport
** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games
** Athlete, a player in sports
** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...