Greater Prosperity Builder

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Text on Button Greater PROSPERITY BUILDER
Image Description

Black text on a gold background.

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This button might have two possible interpretations. One is the 1940 election where Roosevelt backers and Wendell Willkie backers fired salvos at each other through buttons. One side made buttons saying, “Prosperity Builder,” and the other countered with, “Greater Prosperity Builder.”

The other possibility is a promotion from 1934. Lever Brothers launched the “Greater Prosperity Builder” campaign through grocery and drugstores to mark the 10th anniversary of introducing Lux toilet soap. (Don’t let the name fool you, toilet soap meant a refined soap for personal cleaning.) Lever’s other products (Lifebouy health soap and shaving cream, Rinso powdered laundry soap, and Lux laundry soap flakes) were also on sale. The campaign urged people to spend their way to economic recovery.

Sources

(1934, June 8). Lux Toilet Soap Observes Tenth Anniversary Here. Longview News-Journal(Longview, Texas). P. 10. Retrieved from www.newspapers.com

(1934, June 9) Prosperity Drive Is Boosting Sales. Standard-Speaker (Hazleton, Pennsylvania). P. 11. Retrieved from www.newspapers.com

Willkie vs Roosevelt "Properity Builder" Campaign Button (2020). Retrieved 28 July 2020, from https://www.loriferber.com/willkie-fdr-prosperity-builder.html.

Catalog ID PO0828