Bon Ami

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bon Ami, French for "Good Friend", is a powdered household cleaner sold by the Faultless Starch/Bon Ami Company of Kansas City, Missouri, USA. The product's slogan is "Hasn't scratched yet" referring to the fact that it does not scratch surfaces. The Bon Ami mascot, a chick emerging from an egg, is a play on the slogan (the newly-hatched chick hasn't scratched the ground for worms and insects). According to its material safety data sheet Bon Ami's active ingredients are the mild abrasives sodium carbonate, calcium carbonate and feldspar.

The first Bon Ami soap was an abrasive laden tallow soap manufactured by the J.T. Robertson Soap Company of Manchester, Connecticut in 1886.^[1] The powdered cleanser was developed a few years later. Marketed in America and unchanged for over 100 years, is widely advertised as a cleaner for persons with chemical sensitivities because it did not contain bleach or strong chemicals. In 2006 the cleaner was changed to be "easier rinsing" and is not felt to be the same product as in the past by some with chemical sensitivities. However, the original formulation is still manufactured by the company as well. Bon Ami touts on its labeling the recommendation of companies such as: American Standard, Chantal, CorningWare, Farberware, Pyrex Ware, Rival, Sterling Plumbing Group, and West Bend.

Bon Ami may also refer to other products by the same company.

1 Popular culture references
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Popular culture references

In the film comedy "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken", whenever people are discussing a particularly gory murder at an old mansion, Bon Ami's cleaning effectiveness is given quite the testimonial. The murder was so gory that blood was found everywhere - even on the organ keys. Despite the efforts to clean the keys, the blood remained to this very day - "and they used Bon Ami!"