The Reason Morton Salt Puts A Girl With An Umbrella On Its Containers
When it comes to iconic brand mascots, there are a few that most Americans can instantly identify as connected to the brand they represent: the girl on the Wendy's logo, Kentucky Fried Chicken's Colonel Sanders, and the umbrella-carrying girl on the side of a container of Morton Salt. While Wendy's and KFC's logos are based on real people, the question remains — why does Morton Salt use a little girl on its label?
Standing in the middle of a downpour, the girl is holding a two-toned umbrella in one hand while pouring salt out of a container in the other. The girl's bright yellow raincoat, hair, and shoes stand out against a dark blue background, making for a visually interesting label. The Morton Salt girl has been in America's pantries for over a century, and there's an important reason she's pouring out salt in the rain. It all has to do with one thing you need to know about salt: It clumps together as a result of humidity. Like sugar, salt is hygroscopic, meaning it absorbs water vapor from the air around it.
Morton Salt's innovations changed how salt was used
At the time the Morton Salt Company was incorporated in 1910, nothing was added to salt to prevent caking, so it clumped together during humid or rainy weather. The salt would become a hard block impossible to use unless it was chiseled apart. In 1911, the company discovered a new innovation that solved the problem: the addition of magnesium carbonate, which prevented the salt from clumping. (Today, they use calcium silicate for the same effect.) At the same time, Morton added a spout to control how much was poured out.
Morton wanted to capitalize on their breakthrough and hired a renowned ad agency, N.W. Ayer & Company, to create their first national ad campaign in 1914. N.W. Ayer & Company has been responsible for some of the most memorable slogans in American advertising history, including De Beers' "A Diamond is Forever," and AT&T's "Reach Out and Touch Someone." All of the ideas originally presented flopped, but the little girl in the rain with the slogan "When it rains, it pours," was a backup idea that owner Joy Morton's son, Sterling, loved. He thought it showed exactly what the company wanted to show off: that even if it was damp outside, Morton salt would pour. After her debut in 1914, the Morton Salt girl has gotten numerous updates over the years and has become an iconic symbol, appearing on everything from tote bags to Super Bowl ads.