Ajax
Pixies - Three
energetic pixies who cavorted about kitchens and bathrooms
cleaning dirty surfaces with Ajax Cleanser. Created by the
Sherman & Marguette Advertising Agency for the
Colgate-Palmolive Company, these three pointy-eared
personalities were TV's first animated commercial mascots.
Their Ajax Cleanser commercial also introduced TVs first
jingle "You'll stop paying the elbow tax, when you start
cleaning with Ajax." The pixies (a fat, a thin and a tall
pixie all under three-inches in height) interacted with
live-action shots and piped such scripted lines as "Foams
as it cleans," "Cuts grease fast" and "Floats
the dirt right down the drain." The commercials were
accompanied by a bouncy "Bum, Bum, Bum, Bum Bum" musical score
written by Joe Rines. Ajax "the foaming Cleanser" debuted on
television with its three animated pixie mascots in 1948 and
continued through the 1950s.
