The 1970 Pepsodent advertisement in Nigeria, published in The Nigerian Observer on Wednesday, 22 July 1970, offers a revealing glimpse into the country’s changing consumer culture. Appearing as a large display advertisement on page 6, it presented toothpaste as more than a product for cleaning teeth. Pepsodent was associated with beauty, confidence, romantic attraction and participation in a modern way of life.
The advertisement opened with the question, “What made them fall in love?” It featured a smiling Nigerian man and woman and supplied a commercial answer: their Pepsodent smiles. Readers were encouraged to consider whether their teeth were clean, white and sparkling. The copy also promoted a distinctive ingredient called Irium, which was said to help remove food particles and dirt.
The advertisement appeared at an important moment in Nigerian history. The civil war had ended only six months earlier, and the country was beginning the difficult work of relief, reconstruction and reintegration. Against this national background, Pepsodent offered readers a private vision of progress centred on appearance, confidence and modern consumption.
A Surviving Advertisement from July 1970
The Pepsodent advertisement occupied a substantial section of page 6 of The Nigerian Observer. News and editorial material remained above it and to its right, making it a prominent large display advertisement rather than a complete full-page placement.
Its design immediately directed attention to the smiling couple. The image supported a simple emotional message: an attractive smile could inspire affection and social approval. Pepsodent was presented as the product behind that desirable appearance.
The wording reflected an advertising style that was already familiar internationally. Toothpaste companies frequently connected oral cleanliness with attractiveness, confidence and success. In the Nigerian advertisement, these ideas were adapted to a local setting through the use of Nigerian models.
Their presence placed Nigerian consumers within the brand’s vision of fashionable and modern life. The advertisement suggested that the qualities promoted by international consumer culture, including cleanliness, confidence and romantic appeal, were also part of contemporary Nigerian aspiration.
Nigeria’s Post-War Setting
The advertisement appeared shortly after the Nigerian Civil War ended in January 1970. The conflict had caused widespread destruction, displacement and economic hardship, particularly in the former Eastern Region.
The Federal Military Government adopted the language of reconciliation, reconstruction and reintegration. Former combatants and civilians had to be reintegrated, damaged infrastructure required attention, and public services had to be restored in communities affected by the war.
Nigeria was also experiencing unemployment, inflation, military expenditure and pressure on social services. Petroleum production and government oil revenue were growing, but the dramatic prosperity associated with the later oil-boom years had not yet transformed everyday Nigerian life.
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Within this environment, the advertisement represented another side of the post-war period. While the government focused on rebuilding the nation, commercial brands promoted new ideas about personal improvement and social identity.
Pepsodent did not address war, reconstruction or national unity. Instead, it promised a more intimate transformation. The individual could appear cleaner, more attractive and more confident through the use of a manufactured consumer product.
This emphasis reflected the growing place of advertising in Nigerian urban life. Newspapers carried messages that connected household goods, clothing, cosmetics, appliances and personal-care products with progress and respectability.
The 1970 Pepsodent Advertisement in Nigeria Sold Romance
The advertisement’s strongest appeal was romantic rather than medical. It did not begin with tooth decay, gum disease, infection or dental pain. It began with a smiling couple and a question about love.
Pepsodent was presented as part of the explanation for their attraction. The toothpaste became associated with confidence, desirability and social acceptance.
Its second major appeal was tooth whiteness. Clean, white and sparkling teeth were presented as the visible signs of an ideal smile. This created an easily understood image of improvement that could be communicated quickly through both words and pictures.
The romantic couple gave the product an emotional purpose. Toothpaste was no longer simply something used in the bathroom each morning. It became part of a person’s public identity and social presentation.
The campaign also connected private grooming with wider ideas of modern behaviour. Regular use of a branded toothpaste suggested discipline, cleanliness and attention to appearance. These values were increasingly important in advertising directed at urban newspaper readers.
The message was carefully structured. Romance represented the emotional reward. Sparkling teeth represented the visible result. Pepsodent was presented as the route to both.
Irium and the Language of Science
The word “Irium” was one of the advertisement’s most memorable features. It sounded scientific, modern and distinctive.
Irium was Pepsodent’s registered trade name for sodium lauryl sulphate, also known as sodium dodecyl sulphate. Pepsodent had used the term in international advertising for several decades before the Nigerian advertisement appeared.
A Pepsodent advertisement published in the New Zealand Listener on 23 February 1945 identified Irium as the company’s trade name for sodium lauryl sulphate. The name is also recorded among the terms associated with the substance in the United States National Library of Medicine’s PubChem database.
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Sodium lauryl sulphate is a surfactant and foaming agent. In toothpaste and other cleaning products, surfactants help liquids spread and assist in dispersing residues. The ingredient contributes to the foaming and cleaning experience associated with toothpaste.
The use of the name Irium gave an established ingredient a stronger commercial identity. Rather than presenting readers with an ordinary chemical description, the advertisement offered a proprietary term that sounded like a special scientific discovery.
This approach helped Pepsodent distinguish itself from competing products. The advertisement combined emotional appeal with technical language, creating the impression that romance and beauty were supported by modern science.
The scientific language also reflected a broader trend in twentieth-century advertising. Manufacturers frequently used laboratory imagery, chemical terminology and technical explanations to build public confidence in household and personal-care products.
Pepsodent Advertising Before 1970
The promotion of Irium in Nigeria did not begin with the 1970 advertisement. A separate Pepsodent advertisement associated with the Daily Times of 10 February 1959 also featured the ingredient.
This earlier appearance places the 1970 campaign within a longer history of toothpaste advertising in Nigeria. Pepsodent had already been presenting itself to Nigerian newspaper readers as a modern cleaning product supported by scientific language.
By 1970, the brand’s message had expanded beyond cleaning power. The Nigerian Observer advertisement placed greater emphasis on romance, social attraction and the visual appeal of a sparkling smile.
The combination of Nigerian models and an internationally used marketing formula illustrates how multinational brands adapted global advertising strategies to local audiences. The product, scientific terminology and central promise remained recognisable, while the people shown in the campaign made the message appear more closely connected to Nigerian society.
Tooth Cleaning Before Commercial Toothpaste
The history of oral hygiene in Nigeria did not begin with imported toothpaste or manufactured toothbrushes. Nigerian communities had long used chewing sticks and other locally available materials to clean the teeth and gums.
Chewing sticks are commonly prepared from selected plant stems, branches or roots. One end is chewed until its fibres separate, creating a brush-like surface. The fibres are then rubbed against the teeth and gums.
Different communities used plant species available in their local environments. The practice formed part of established systems of personal hygiene and continued even as manufactured toothbrushes and toothpaste became more widely available.
Traditional and commercial methods often existed side by side. Some people used chewing sticks exclusively, while others combined them with toothbrushes and toothpaste.
A 2013 study involving 390 adults in Idikan, Ibadan, found that 18.5 per cent of participants used chewing sticks alone. Another 30.5 per cent used both chewing sticks and toothbrushes.
The continued use of chewing sticks demonstrates that Nigerian oral-care practices developed through a process of coexistence rather than immediate replacement. Commercial toothpaste entered a society that already possessed established methods of maintaining dental cleanliness.
The 1970 Pepsodent advertisement therefore represents the promotion of an industrial consumer product within an existing culture of oral care. Its message encouraged readers to connect a branded toothpaste with new ideas of attractiveness, science and modern social life.
From Lever Brothers to Unilever Nigeria
Unilever Nigeria traces its corporate history to the West Africa Soap Company, established in Nigeria in 1923. The company later became known as Lever Brothers Nigeria and expanded into a major producer and distributor of household, food and personal-care products.
Following mergers, acquisitions and corporate restructuring, Lever Brothers Nigeria changed its name to Unilever Nigeria Plc in 2001. The change aligned the Nigerian business with the wider Unilever group’s global corporate identity.
Pepsodent remained part of the company’s oral-care activities. The brand later became associated with school-based campaigns encouraging children to brush their teeth regularly.
According to Unilever Nigeria’s 2025 Sustainability Report, its school programme reached 2,700,885 pupils in 4,028 schools during 2025. The company also reported that more than 11 million children had been reached since the programme began.
This educational emphasis marked an important development from the romantic advertising of 1970. While the earlier newspaper advertisement centred on white teeth, attraction and Irium, later campaigns increasingly promoted regular brushing and oral-health education among schoolchildren.
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Nigeria’s Continuing Oral-Health Challenges
Nigeria continues to face significant oral-health challenges. The World Health Organization’s 2022 Nigeria Oral Health Country Profile estimated that untreated decay affected 35.5 per cent of children aged one to nine in their primary teeth.
The profile estimated untreated decay in permanent teeth among 23.9 per cent of people aged five and above. Severe periodontal disease was estimated to affect 25.1 per cent of people aged 15 and above. These estimates primarily reflected data relating to 2019.
The profile also recorded affordability challenges surrounding the recommended annual supply of fluoride toothpaste. Oral-health screening, urgent treatment and basic restorative procedures were not generally available to at least half of the patients requiring them in public primary-care facilities.
Modern oral-health guidance emphasises brushing twice daily with toothpaste containing approximately 1,000 to 1,500 parts per million of fluoride. Fluoride helps prevent dental caries by strengthening tooth enamel and supporting the repair of early damage.
The contrast between modern guidance and the 1970 advertisement is revealing. The historical campaign concentrated on foaming, whiteness, romance and Irium. Contemporary oral-health programmes place greater emphasis on fluoride, preventive education, professional treatment and access to care.
In December 2025, Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare announced plans to integrate oral-health services into primary healthcare. The proposed services included oral-hygiene education, counselling, essential diagnostics, fluoride treatment, restorative care and referral services.
Conclusion
The 1970 Pepsodent advertisement in Nigeria is an important document of Nigerian advertising and consumer history. Published during the early months of post-war reconstruction, it presented a carefully designed image of personal progress.
The smiling couple represented romance and social confidence. The emphasis on white, sparkling teeth supplied a visible ideal. The name Irium gave the product an appearance of scientific distinction.
The advertisement also placed Nigerian faces within an international commercial campaign. It showed how a multinational brand adapted its message to an urban Nigerian readership while continuing to use marketing strategies developed across several countries.
Its greatest historical value lies in the lifestyle it presented. Pepsodent was promoted not simply as toothpaste, but as part of an attractive, confident and modern identity.
More than five decades later, the advertisement remains a striking example of how consumer products became connected with wider ideas about love, beauty, science, status and social progress in twentieth-century Nigeria.
Author’s Note
The 1970 Pepsodent advertisement demonstrates how advertising transforms ordinary products into symbols of aspiration. By connecting toothpaste with romance, confidence and scientific modernity, the campaign reflected the growing influence of consumer culture in post-war Nigeria. It also belongs within a longer history in which established oral-care practices, including chewing sticks, continued alongside manufactured products. The advertisement reminds us that the history of everyday life can be found not only in political speeches and government records, but also in the commercial images that shaped how people imagined beauty, progress and modern identity.
References
The Nigerian Observer, 22 July 1970, page 6, Pepsodent display advertisement. Digitised issue identified as originating from the National Library of Nigeria.
Daily Times, Pepsodent advertisement attributed to 10 February 1959.
New Zealand Listener, 23 February 1945, Pepsodent advertisement identifying Irium as the registered trade name for sodium lauryl sulphate.
United States National Library of Medicine, PubChem, “Sodium Lauryl Sulfate”.
United States Department of State, Office of the Historian, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, documents concerning post-war Nigeria.
Lawal, F. B., Taiwo, J. O. and Oke, G. A., “Oral Health Practices of Adult Inhabitants of a Traditional Community in Ibadan, Nigeria”, Nigerian Journal of Medicine, 2013.
Unilever Nigeria Plc, Annual Report and Financial Statements 2018.
Unilever Nigeria Plc, 2025 Sustainability Report.
World Health Organization, Nigeria Oral Health Country Profile, 2022.
Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, “FG to Integrate Oral Health into Primary Care”, 2 December 2025.
