POD 3/1/11 DASH Detergent ad

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

Help Support :

I remember

the Dash commercial on The Dick Van Dyke show during prime time (aging myself) that claimed Dash made your washing machine clean like it was 10 feet tall. Rob would stand in amazement as he watched Laura's Maytag washer growing to ten feet tall! Of course Laura would tell Rob her washing machine was not ten feet tall but Dash made it clean like it was ten feet tall. Dash was one of the major sponsers of the Dick Van Dyke Show. Jim
 
And Here's More Of Moore (And Dick)

Of course, Dash wasn't the only P&G product Dick and Mary pitched every week. Here's a little push for Joy:

 
For The Best Combination Of Cancer And Taste....

Starting in the fall of 1962, Kent Cigarettes became alternate sponsor of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" with P&G. And of course, the cast did the spots. Here's one with Dick, Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam singing the sponsor's jingle.

 
When did Dash leave the market?

I believe I bought several boxes of Dash while in college in the late 1980s. The box was red at that time I believe. Then, Lemon Dash came out, and I really liked that. I have always liked lemon in laundry and dishwasher detergents.

I had a 50oz yellow liquid Dash bottle until recently. This was from when P&G would sell you refill liquid in a paper milk carton to re-use the plastic bottle.

I still think that is a great idea, but that's the subject for another thread. Anyone know when Dash left the market?

Gordon
 
One for you Jim, not the best quality, but...
 
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
I've never grasped or understood the logic on the "10 feet tall" saying. If your washer is 10 feet tall, what does that have to do with anything? Can't your clothes come equally as clean if your washer is normal size? On the downside of this, you'll have to get a ladder to load/unload your washer.

Here's another commercial for Dash. If Dash ever re-appears in the US, I'll definitely make it a point to keep a box on my dresser.

 
Lemon yellow box Dash

came out about 1986 or 7. I was in college and had a roommate with a bit of a BO problem. His clothes smelled up the whole apartment. Dash had been reformulated as an answer to Lever's Surf, which was probably the first heavy scent detergent advertised as being able to cover up body odor in laundry -- I guess before then they were expected to actually get the clothes clean! Anyway, P&G was pushing the new Dash heavily with promotions, and, knowing my roomie was a cheapskate, I kept him supplied with $1 off coupons. Worked like a charm. He bought the Dash, his laundry didn't smell, and I didn't have to make any embarrassing "your clothes stink" speeches!

Performancewise, it was just another high-sudsing P&G product by then, like Tide, Bold or Cheer. Lots of phosphates but no enzymes, as I recall.
 
I think the 10 foot tall washer was meant to emphasize power. Think dinosaurs, monsters, The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958) and, as Jessie Helms called him, Long John Silver (explanations supplied to younger readers upon request).

What a disappointment that lemon Dash was, but you know, you probably could have kept his clothes deodorized just by having an opened box in his closet. I remember the wonderful aromas in basements in the 50s and 60s where a box of Tide or Dash sat open near the washer.
 
my mother always used Dash..in the red box. She passed away in 1988 and the last few years of her life she did'nt do the laundry. I don't remember it having much of a smell/scent. I always wanted her to buy Tide or Cheer becasue of the scent and suds. She was a dediciated Dash user because of the "low sudings" quality. I do remember my grandmother remarking about how white our whites were; she used Breeze so she could get a "free" towel and she also had well water..so maybe Dash did get whites brighter.
 
Breeze was a more cheaply compounded detergent with lots of fillers. You had to use more of it than you did of Dash. Even used in the proper amount, it probably could not have given Dash's cleaning results without the addition of laundry boosters.
 
a common problem with most detergents was when they tried changing it, new and improved, bigger and better, the "new" formula would cause skin allergies, Mom used to be dedicated to Tide, then Fab, then Cheer, then All....mostly using Dash inbetween, I think it was the controlled suds that straightened everything out for her, but was always a little too pricey, so only purchased when on sale or she had a coupon....

never understood if they had a good product, why not leave it alone!
 
My mother used Dash most of the times, my dad was a mechanic and she had to deal with dirty Auto Mechanic uniforms to wash each week. From what I remember she believed the commmercial "a clean rinse water means a clean wash". It kind of makes sense when you think about it. That is why she purchased the Kenmore 700 with the extra rinse button. Needless to say the machine was a workhorse.
 
Your post, Bill, I believe best answers the question about stinky washers. My mother always gave laundry an extra rinse. Service people used to remark about how clean and free of corrosion and buildup our washers were. Today's washers, using the minimal amounts of water that they do for washing and rinsing, combined with poor laundering practices leave enough stuff behind that, if it stays the least bit wet, starts to support microbial growth. Clean rinsing does indeed mean clean washing and clean washing means clean rinsing. My father always taught that rinsing was as important as washing for thorough cleaning.

Years ago, when I put the 50 cycle motor pulley on my 806, I discovered that I could wash really large loads in that it would turn them over, but although it would turn over a large load of dirty rags, the rinse water (which drains into a white laundry tub) was brownish-gray, full of suspended dirt so the washer really could not handle the amount of soil in a large, heavily soiled load. There was not enough water to carry away what was washed out. I think that is applicable to large loads of dirty clothes in todays HE machines.
 
Thank you Robert...

for posting the DASH 10 foot tall commercials! Jim

I don't remember my mom ever using Dash detergent. Mrs. Babb, who lived across the street when I was about 8 or so did use Dash in her brand new coppertone Maytag washer. I thought that washer was sooooooooooooooooo cool!

In the late 60's and early 70's Mama began began using Fab with Lemon scented Borax. I loved the way it smelled.
 
My Mom used All for years, in fact it was nearly always on-hand unless I managed to get her to buy something else for a change, but for the few times she agreed, it was whatever I wanted that I could play with, and she still used her All. We had a water softener in Michigan and Colorado, so the low sudsing aspect of All was very appreciated. I know Mom always felt she couldn't use Tide without dealing with a sudsy rinse. Later when FreshStart came out, we loved that because it was easier to use (so compact) and as good if not even better at low sudsing. BUT, we are coupon clippers, so if we didn't find All on sale or have a coupon, I think Dash may have been the substitute that Mom liked. I can say that when I got my own Kenmore, I had a blast buying all the stuff that I wanted before and never could nag enough to get.

I rebuilt a 1979 model (built in 1980 or so) standard capacity Kenmore around 1992 or so. So it was about 12 years old. The machine had an odd, clay-like odor. Remember that gray clay we used in kindergarten, etc? Same smell.... Upon opening up the machine, I removed the basket and found a couple HANDFULLS of this thick, goey clayish "stuff" that clung to the centerpost, it clung also to the inner post of the basket, and was all the way up to the basket drive block. It was cold, moist, and moldable, and the spin action of the baskets wisked it up the post like stiff dough does in between the beaters in a Sunbeam mixer. I decided that this was residue from a cheap powder detergent....at least that's what I hoped as it was the least gross of the options I had.

Gordon
 
I LOVED Dash!!! I wish it would come back but with phosphates being banned, it wouldn't be the same. I do miss the scent though. My Grandma used it religiously for years til they stopped making it. She then used either All or Cheer.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top