Stomatol is a brand of toothpaste

Toothpaste

Toothpaste is a paste or gel dentifrice used with a toothbrush as an accessory to clean and maintain the aesthetics and health of teeth. Toothpaste is used to promote oral hygiene: it serves as an abrasive that aids in removing the dental plaque and food from the teeth, assists in suppressing...

 first sold in Sweden at the beginning of the 20th century. It was particularly notable as having been one of the first Swedish brands to recognize and to use the power of mass media

Mass media

Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

. The brand was originally made by the soap manufacturer Grumme & Son, acquired 1985 by pharmaceutical company Cederroth AB. The company made extensive use of press, film and signs, both enamel and neon.

It is particularly known for the large advertisement sign which has been a prominent local landmark at Slussen

Slussen

Slussen is an area of central Stockholm, connecting Södermalm and Gamla stan. The area is named after the locks between Lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The locks themselves allow passage between these two bodies of water...

 in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

 since 1909. The Stomatol sign, made from lightbulbs, not neon tubes, was the first animated advertisement sign in Sweden (one can see the toothpaste being squeezed out of the tube). It was originally placed on the Katarinahissen elevator, but was moved in 1933 to the roof of the nearby building at Klevgränd 1 B. Technical problems have forced the electricity to be shut down between 1963 and 1972 and from 1981 until 1986.

Many Stomatol film commercials were animated. At least ten of the commercials produced in and around 1930 were drawn by Arvid Olson and Victor Bergdahl, creator of Captain Grogg.

Live action, near-feature quality ads were produced around that time by Kinocentralen and which starred popular Swedish comedic actor Thor Modéen

Thor Modéen

Thor Modéen was a Swedish actor and comedian. He appeared in 88 films between 1923 and 1950. He often worked with fellow comedians Åke Söderblom and John Botvid.-Selected filmography:* Två man om en änka...

. Modéen was well known for living a rather extravagant lifestyle, mostly paid for through his work for Stomatol.

The brand's slogan was "Stomatol - the only way to obtain healthy and strong teeth!"

External links and references

• History and photographs of early Stomatol film advertisements, at the website of the Swedish National Archive of Recorded Sound and Moving Images
  Swedish National Archive of Recorded Sound and Moving Images
  The Swedish National Archive of Recorded Sound and Moving Images, in Swedish Statens ljud- och bildarkiv, SLBA, was founded in 1979 with the aim to collect and preserve all film and recorded sound produced in Sweden, including radio and television programs...
  
   (SLBA)
• Martin Stugart, "Vem har skapat Stomatolskylten?" ("Who has created the Stomatol sign?"), reply to a letter from a reader, in a regular column on local Stockholm history in Dagens Nyheter
  Dagens Nyheter
  is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It has the largest circulation of Swedish morning newspapers, followed by Göteborgs-Posten and Svenska Dagbladet, and is the only morning newspaper that is distributed to subscribers across the whole country. In 2009 DN had a circulation of 316,000, reaching 881...
  
  (accessed January 18, 2006)