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Endpoint: Tho-Radia



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created on: 3/04/2023
by: bob (9191)
 
 

Brand properties

General info :
Tho-Radia was a French brand name of a line of cosmetics - named after thorium and radium - the radioactive elements it contained that was launched in 1933.
It contained soap, tooth paste, facial powder, ointments and lipstick a.o.
"Before people started to fear radioactivity, all they seemed to know about it was that it contained energy," said Timothy J. Jorgensen, an associate professor of radiation medicine at Georgetown University, in a phone interview. "There were implications that the energy would help your teeth if they put it in toothpaste and give you a glowing expression if they put it in facial cream. But there really wasn't any science to show that it was true." Soon after its discovery, radioactive beauty products were hitting the shelves.
t was certainly available as far afield as Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Egypt and, of course, in its birthplace of France.
Tho-Radia’s main claim was that its ingredients of thorium chloride (0.50 g per 100 g) and radium bromide (0.25 mg per 100 g) were made to the ‘Formule du Docteur Alfred Curie.’ Historians originally thought that Dr Curie never existed and that he was created simply to use the name Curie and benefit from its associations with radium. His existence has subsequently been proven but it has also been established that he was not a member of the well-known branch of the Curie family.

Tho-Radia produced the most iconic example of this emphasis on the energy with their launch advert. This poster, attributed to the designer Tony Burnand, shows a pretty young blond white woman illuminated by an orange glowing light coming from two branded Tho Radia preparations placed in front of her.
By 1937 the French government had placed significant restrictions on the sale of products that contained radioactive substances. The effects of this new legislation had implications for the marketing and manufacturing processes of the Tho Radia brand which had traded on its ‘a base de radium et de thorium.’

The company would have had no choice but to stop using these ingredients. However, printed advertising evidence shows that the company did not undertake any radical rebranding and appears to continue its commercial success with advertisements in high prestige (and high circulation) magazines such as Marie Claire. It seems that Tho Radia did not announce that their products no longer contained radioactive materials and just, instead, quietly abandoned their use of it.

Tho-Radia continued to market itself as a ‘méthode scientifique de beauté’ well into the 1950s emphasising its scientific credentials but with the noticeable change that, instead of thorium and radium, it is only claimed to contain ‘active ingredients that are incorporated under the direction of a Dr who is a specialist in Dermatology.’ The brand, therefore, continued to use the authoritative figure of a doctor to sell and legitimise its products, but this professional was now a specialist in dermatology only – rather than an individual whose name was associated with radium.
It seems that the company behind the brand was finally liquidated in 1962.
Source :
ENA's

Magazines

(2 items)

Item number : 55686

Submitted by : bob (9191)
on : 03/04/2023
Refined by : Lo55o (12475)
Last updated on: 03/04/2023