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Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) is a busy man these
days. In the last week or so, he’s thrown his weight
behind numerous initiatives to help his home
state, including SBA loans, food distribution and
the procurement of a COVID-19 testing machine.
But another of Portman’s maneuverings affects
people across the entire nation. That’s because Ohio
happens to be home to GOJO Industries, makers
of Purell. Dispensers for the hand sanitizer depend
on a pumping mechanism that, thanks to tariffs
imposed by the Trump administration, are now in
short supply. Portman is working to lift those tariffs.
“We need all the hand sanitizer we can produce,”
the senator said.
That’s an understatement. The World Health
Organization declared coronavirus to be a public
health emergency on Jan. 30 and, by Feb. 22, online
sales of hand sanitizer surged by 170%, according to
NPD Group data. Research firm Mintel reports that,
as of late March, 58% of Americans reported they
were “using hand sanitizer more often.”
Which is to say: They’re probably using Purell.
It’s the top-selling brand. It’s basically synonymous
with the category. Purell’s 2,500 employees are
now pulling shifts 24/7 to make as much Purell
as possible, though the company concedes it can
barely touch the demand.
“Many people are asking, ‘When will I see Purell
on retail shelves again?’” corporate communications
senior director Samantha Williams said in a
statement. “We can tell you we are shipping Purell
products to retailers every day. Customers are buying
out these products as soon as they hit shelves.”
The current mania over this clear, medicinal-
smelling glop is all the more remarkable—
considering the fact that, a generation ago, the
company could scarcely give the stuff away.
Originally aimed at hospital and food-service
employees, Purell had no takers when it first hit
the market in 1988.
“It wasn’t catching on,” GOJO’s then-CEO Joe
Kanfer told CBS in 2013. “We were losing money
right and left, trying to sell it, trying to promote it.”
That’s because sanitation-minded workers
focused solely on hand-washing as a regimen. It
would take until 2002 for the Centers for Disease
Control to announce that alcohol-based products
killed germs just as well. For GOJO, which had
also begun making Purell for consumer use, it
was deliverance. Leaving aside the patronage of
everyday germophobes, Purell sales spiked amid
the SARS outbreak in 2003. When H1N1 hit in
2009, GOJO tripled capacity.
But nothing compares to the demand for
Purell right now—so extreme that, at press time,
a six-pack of Purell was selling on eBay for $400.
(“Like many of you, we have been upset by the price
gouging around our products,” Williams said.)
Where will it end? Perhaps with a GOJO
competitor winding up with some serious market
share, assuming it can move quickly enough.
“This is a huge opportunity for brands that
are well-known in the category, such as Purell,
to become the brand that consumers turn to in a
time of crisis,” said Mintel home and personal care
analyst Olivia Guinaugh. “In fact, many other brands
and companies, including those outside the hand-
sanitizer category, have been stepping up to fill the
hand-sanitizer void.”Germ Warfare As companies like GM gear up to
make ventilators, the current public-health crisis
echoes with the defense-mobilization efforts of
World War II. As it turns out, that war also gave us
Purell—at least indirectly. Goldie Lippman worked
in an Akron, Ohio, rubber plant during the war,
making rafts for the U.S. Army. When she noticed
that toxic chemicals like benzene were the only way
to get carbon black off workers’ hands, she and her
husband, Jerry, worked at home to concoct a safer
heavy-duty hand cleaner, which they called GoJo.
The success of GoJo would lead to an antimicrobial
formulation that was originally to be called Flash, a
name the company dropped before opting for Purell.Jerry and Goldie Lippman (1) went into the
hand-cleaner business in 1946, marketing
GoJo Hand Cleaner as a safer alternative
for industrial workers than solvents like
benzene. The Lippmans’ nephew, Joe Kanfer
(2), took over the company in the mid-1970s
and later spearheaded the launch of Purell.
Introduced to a disinterested market in 1988,
these days Purell’s two Ohio factories are
operating around the clock (3). Even early in
the COVID-19 crisis, stores quickly sold out of
Purell (4), prompting distilleries and breweries
to step in and make their own hand sanitizers.ADWEEK 31
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| APRIL 6, 20201342