Sunlight finally hung out to dry

By KATHERINE HOBY

The bubble has finally burst on New Zealand's longest-running soap.

Generations of New Zealanders used it for washing the laundry, washing their hands, cleaning the floor and just about everything else.

The solid yellow bar of Sunlight might sit beside a laundry tub, a sink, or among a collection of cleaning staples.

But Unilever, the company that makes the famous soap, is pulling the plug on New Zealand production because of low sales.

"We didn't make the decision lightly," said Unilever Petone factory manager Bob Armour.

"Despite the fact it was originally from England, people do see it as a Kiwi icon and we take that seriously."

Sunlight was first imported into this country in 1884 and the Petone factory has been making it since 1919.

The yellow and blue box with red highlighting is familiar to many.

"It is a heritage brand," Mr Armour said. "And we have always stuck with that old-fashioned look."

The Sunlight box suggests the soap can be used to clean just about anything.

"Gentle on your hands and everything they wash," it reads.

Mother and Herald reader Eileen Smith, of Te Atatu, was sad to hear of the demise of the soap.

"I'm in my 40s and I've used it all my life.

"We use it for everything from laundry to dishes, to washing the car and washing the dog. The dog loves it. We all do."

Mrs Smith liked the fact there were no petrochemicals in Sunlight, and that both it and its packaging were eco-friendly. "It is very much a part of Kiwiana and I am sad to see it go."

Her husband stocked up on Sunlight soap bars on a recent trip to Christchurch.

"He says if he ever gets a racehorse he will call it Sunlight Soap and dress it in the same colours," she said.

But fans of the soap bar had better stock up. The Herald visited two supermarkets and five dairies in Auckland before finding a Glen Innes superette that still had it.

One supermarket worker said: "All our little old ladies have complained. They say 'Where's my Sunlight?' and don't seem to trust in anything else."

Former New Zealand Woman's Weekly magazine editor Jenny Lynch said the demise of Sunlight soap was "a bit sad. It's not exactly an icon but it's been a standard in many New Zealand households."

She said the introduction of liquid detergents in the 1950s spelled the beginning of the end for Sunlight.

"There was a time though, before that, when people said they couldn't get by without Sunlight."

When Ms Lynch first visited the New Zealand Herald in 1960s, Sunlight was the soap in the women's toilets.

For fans who are all in a lather at the thought of life without Sunlight a trip across the Tasman may be in order. The famous bars are still on sale in Australia.