Shanghai’s Leading Brand of Insecticide in 1940? Flit of course

Flit was phenomenally successfully at selling itself in Shanghai in the 1930s and 1940s – a truly successful global brand actually that had been launched in 1923. It had good distribution in China as it was a product of the Standard Oil Company of New York (SOCONY) who had been successful with their oil products in China (and if you haven’t read Alice Tisdale Hobart’s brilliant novel about the SOCONY men of China Oil for the Lamps of China then you really should). Incidentally, the mad insects were originally the creation of Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr Seuss). This ad ran in the North-China Daily News.