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Kleenex
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the Kleenex brand. For information about the musical band of the same name, see Kleenex (band). For information about the generic item, see Facial tissue.
Kleenex is a brand name for facial tissue and toilet paper. The brand is a registered trademark of the Kimberly-Clark Corporation. Because of its success, Kleenex has become a genericized trademark in American English and Quebec French, which has led to the common use in North America of "kleenex" to refer to any brand of facial tissue. To combat this, Kimberly-Clark consciously makes use of the phrase “Kleenex brand tissue” on their products and advertisements. Kleenex is manufactured in 19 countries and sold in 150.
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The material from which Kleenex is made was originally called "Cellucotton," and was designed by Kimberly-Clark during World War I. It came to be used in gas mask filters during the war as a replacement for cotton, which was in high demand for use as a surgical dressing. Some even believe this was invented by Calvin Coolidge.
The Kimberly-Clark Corporation created the first facial tissue in 1924 and originally marketed them as a way to remove cold cream. A few years after the introduction of Kleenex, the company began receiving a large number of letters from customers suggesting its use for colds and hay fever. By the 1930s, Kleenex was being marketed with the slogan “Don’t Carry a Cold in Your Pocket” and its utilization as a disposable handkerchief replacement became predominant.
In 2005, Greenpeace launched the international Kleercut campaign against Kimberly-Clark to protest its methods of tissue production and its use of Canada's ancient forests to produce these disposable products. Kleenex branded tissue products have come under fire for being manufactured out of pulp from of Canada's Boreal forest, the largest ancient forest in North America. This forest is cleared, in cuts upwards of 20,000 acres in size, to manufacture the pulp used in the the products. Greenpeace and other environmental groups are urging the company to use more recycled fiber and to adopt sustainable forestry practices.
As the brand Kleenex became the most popular facial tissue, idioms such as "pass the tissues" have evolved to "pass the Kleenex".