TOILETRIES
Colgate Palmolive Products
In 1965, at the height of Bondmania, companies were seeking to cash in on the craze. All sorts of products were given a license to be associated with Agent 007 - bubble gum, beer, golf equipment, clothing, vodka, toys, and a whole host of others. Colgate Palmolive cashed in with their line of Bond men's toiletries. CP produced their product in bottles and boxes with the likeness of Sean Connery's intense stare from his eyes under his furrowed brow. The products were promoted by a slick advertising campaign, utilizing a two-prong strategy: ads geared toward women ("Dare to give him 007... He'll love you for it.") and a separate series of ads geared toward men ("When you use 007... Be kind."). The scent of the products was a bit overpowering for my tastes, but certainly in line with the style at that time, competing with other strong fragrances such as Hai Karate (Regular and Oriental Lime) and Brut.
I am not certain when or how I became obsessed with collecting these items, but I suspect my passion is based on two factors - one, to preserve for more time some remnants of these products that are now over 50 years old and, two, to feed into my association of these products with a childhood where you would wear these overpowering fragrances with innocent abandon. I feel a certain sense of adolescent playfulness whenever I open one of these bottles of cologne or after shave, or hold a bar of soap, and smell the still-strong fragrance of the 007 scent. It transports me back to a slice of time that will never return. I love collecting the CP 007 toiletry products, and I'm happy to show you the items I do have. While I do have examples of all but one of the products offered, I surprisingly do not have all of the combination boxes they were offered in... yet.
I am not certain when or how I became obsessed with collecting these items, but I suspect my passion is based on two factors - one, to preserve for more time some remnants of these products that are now over 50 years old and, two, to feed into my association of these products with a childhood where you would wear these overpowering fragrances with innocent abandon. I feel a certain sense of adolescent playfulness whenever I open one of these bottles of cologne or after shave, or hold a bar of soap, and smell the still-strong fragrance of the 007 scent. It transports me back to a slice of time that will never return. I love collecting the CP 007 toiletry products, and I'm happy to show you the items I do have. While I do have examples of all but one of the products offered, I surprisingly do not have all of the combination boxes they were offered in... yet.
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The same products were packaged in red boxes and blue boxes, and each color was considered a separate version. Here, cans of spray deodorant and after shave are shown in the packaging variations.
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A blue box with cologne and after shave, and a red box meant to hold 3 items but contains only cologne and after shave.
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A blue box with spray deodorant, cologne and soap on a rope.
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A red box with spray deodorant, after shave and talc.
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A shipping box of six cans of shave cream.
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007 soap on a rope packaged and sold as a separate item.
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A rare find - 007 stick deodorant, along with a can of shave cream.
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Loose bottles of cologne and talc.
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Boxed bottles of pre-electric lotion, hair tonic, after shave, and two boxes of cologne bottles.
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A red box containing the big package. Top row, L-R: talc, boxed bar soap, and shave cream. Bottom row, L-R: spray deodorant, cologne, after shave, and hair tonic. If you had this one, you had it all!
I mentioned the advertising campaign. Below are five examples of magazines ads that were published to promote the sale of 007 toiletries.
I mentioned the advertising campaign. Below are five examples of magazines ads that were published to promote the sale of 007 toiletries.
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Cologne produced as part of the 50th anniversary celebration.
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Film-themed colognes: three boxes of the Goldfinger fragrance, and two boxes of the fragrance for For Your Eyes Only.
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A box containing a bar of Bond 007 Luxury Bath Soap.
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In the novel 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service', James Bond washes his hair with Pinaud Elixir Shampoo, which Ian Fleming called "that Prince of shampoos" in the novel. Founded in France in 1810, the Pinaud brand is most famous for its line of Clubman men's toiletries in use in the highest-quality barbershops and clubs. The larger bottle is a reissue of the original, and the smaller box is a vintage item.
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