The stain-slaying product is all but worshipped at the altar of the front-loader.
Ink is erased. Blood bubbles away with minimal effort. Oxi power is enough to make Lady MacBeth sit back and chill.
“It gets things cleaner, whiter and brighter,” said Marianne Howell, an unabashed fan of the product. “We recycle baby clothes, and we were able to really brighten up some third-generation ones. It gave them a new life.”
Shelves of detergents and stain removers are being shoved aside for an array of powders and liquids sporting the prefix “oxi” (or “oxy”), stain-fighting, fabric-saving concoctions enthralling legions of consumers thwarted by a splash of grape juice or a stream of spittle that’s soiled a precious garment.
How ubiquitous is this concoction?
Sixty-eight trademarks were filed for products with the “oxi” or “oxy” prefix in the past three years. So far, 17 have been applied for in 2004, said Glenn Gundersen, a Philadelphia lawyer who compiles “Trademark Trends,” a yearly overview of marketing buzzwords.
“There tends to be a pack mentality when something new and marketable comes along,” Gundersen said.
Not to mention effective.
“It works so well on things like grape stains, wine, spaghetti and coffee,” said Harry Straub, brand manager for Scotchgard from 3M, which distributes a carpet cleaner with added oxi. “It’s a combination of good marketing, plus a good cleaning product. It digs into tough stains that other cleaners have had issues getting out.”
A scoop of oxi has also offered a boost to the fluff and fold aisles at the supermarket.
“The laundry category for a long time was a flat, mature category,” said Adam Hanft of Hanft Unlimited, a marketing, messaging and media company in New York City. “OxiClean was a little entrepreneurial company. It’s not unusual to have someone under the radar like that and the traditional packaging companies fall into place.”
Dawn now touts Dawn Oxy for dishes. Even bleach behemoth Clorox has adopted oxi into its product line with its stain remover Oxi Magic.
Oxi products first bubbled 12 years ago amid the fad-ridden world of late night infomercials. The crystals were also showcased at home shows and door-to-door. Word of mouth spread about the whitening abilities and soon lined the shelves at Wal-Mart, Target and other mass-market discounters.
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The OxiClean line now counts 15 products, including carpet cleaners, liquid laundry boosters and even a product for baby clothes, not to mention bucketfuls of the original at Sam’s Club and Costco. Howell’s husband, Hugh, bought 60 pounds from an infomercial before trying it.
“Consumers really fell in love with the product and made it their own,” said Cathy Underwood, OxiClean brand manager at Orange Glo, which manufactures the product. “There have been a lot of copycats. What’s nice is we haven’t compromised the formula.”
Speaking of which, just how do oxi products work? What’s the magic behind this stain removal? Look no further than a medicine cabinet for the answer. The chief ingredient in most oxi products is a solidified form of hydrogen peroxide combined with other ingredients to form the oxi compound. There’s apparently no fear of that red shirt turning pink.
“Unlike a chlorine bleach, which is a true bleach, peroxides are not effective against a tied-down dye,” said Eileen Koop, director of research and development at Orange Glo. “In lay terms, you’re bleaching the stain, but bleaching is a different kind of chemical reaction. The secret with OxiClean is that the ingredients release oxygen.”
So why not just uncap a brown bottle of peroxide and dump it into the washer?
“If you had a superfresh bottle of reaction you could pour it on a stain and get some benefits,” Koop said. “But you wouldn’t get the other ingredients.”
Not to mention the a cultlike devotion to cleanliness.
“OxiClean has become a verb in the consignment circles,” said Dawn Mehler, 37, of Cumming. “When you’re buying clothes that are stained everybody goes off and says, `Oh, OxiClean it.’ Everything I’ve ever bought, I got the stain out with OxiClean.”