The Life and Times of the Snuggle Bear

Lecturing us about laundry for 30 years, and now a social-media star

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In 1983, Unilever took the wraps off of Snuggle, a new brand of fabric softener designed to take on Procter & Gamble's Downy, the unchallenged, 800-pound gorilla of the segment.

Since 1960, Downy had taught homemakers to pour a little capful of the blue liquid into the rinse cycle to bring “April freshness” to their wash. Downy ads glowed with photos of happy husbands, smiling children and lots of cute babies. Here, Unilever found a chink in Downy’s armor.

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