Listerine mouthwash based on menthol, thymol, methyl salicylate, and cineol in a solution of 20% ethanol was the scientific development of two Americans, Joseph Lawrence and Jordan Lambert. They decided to name the rinse after Dr. Joseph Lister, who first performed surgery using antiseptics and proved their effectiveness.
Today we know Listerine as an oral hygiene product. But this was not always the case. As early as the 1920s, household antiseptics were actively marketed under this name, especially popular as a floor cleaner. The product was also marketed as a remedy for gonorrhea. The overwhelming success came only after the product was declared a mouthwash.
Listerine was originally recommended for use as an external topical disinfectant. But sales were poor, and in 1885 Joseph Lawrence sold the rights to the drug to a pharmaceutical company. And already at the end of the XIX century, Listerine was used exclusively as a strong surgical antiseptic. In 1895 it was recommended to dentists for use in resection. Later, a new concentration of the drug was produced and recommended as a gonorrhea remedy and floor cleaner. It was not until 1915 that the drug was marketed universally as a mouthwash.
For more than 80 years, the packaging of Listerine has not undergone significant changes. The drug was bottled in glass bottles, which were packed in cylindrical cardboard boxes. In 1994, after rebranding, the drug was first produced in plastic containers. In 2003, instead of the classic rinse appeared flavored solutions: mint, vanilla, citrus, and fruit. In 2009, a new non-alcoholic version of the product was launched.
What is Listerine?
Listerine is the name of a brand of mouthwashes owned by the world-famous Johnson & Johnson company. Over time, a whole line of mouthwashes appeared, which today can be found in almost any pharmacy and dental clinic.
As we have already mentioned above, for quite a long time the brand was more than consistent in everything connected to the packaging, however, the logo of the mouthwash was changed several times throughout its history.
The original Listerine logo was introduced in 1914 and stayed active for over half a century. It was a super elegant serif lettering in the uppercase, with bold lines, and triangular serifs. The black inscription was set on a transparent background and accompanied by an additional lettering in small capitals.
The redesign of the 1960s has introduced a more modern version of the Listerine visual identity. The elegant old-style inscription was rewritten in a bold geometric sans-serif typeface with solid black characters perfectly balanced. The name of the brand was underlined by the “Antiseptic” tagline in the same font but different size.
In 1995 the Listerine logo underwent another redesign. The overall style hasn’t changed much, but the black of the lettering was switched to dark gray, and the typeface was slightly refined, with the characters getting closer to each other. Also, the first letter of the wordmark got a bit larger than the others. The tagline was completely removed from the primary version.
The Listerine logo, introduced in 2013, was executed in the same typeface as the previous one, with all characters featuring one size and the gray color of the letters turning black again. Now the badge looks super confident and stable.
The extra-bold uppercase lettering from the primary logo of the Listerine mouthwash brand is set in a stable geometric sans-serif typeface, which is based on one of the following commercial fonts: Breda Two, Neue Plaktrade, or Plakreg, with some visible modifications of the contours.
As for the color palette of the Listerine visual identity, it is as simple as possible; black on white, which says a lot about the professional side of the brand and its confidence in the quality of the products, offered to the market.