# "Mitchum" deodorant--Did Revlon's people have to clear it with Robert? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 7, 2008, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitchum-deodorant-did-revlons-people-have-to-clear-it-with-robert/432570 "2008-01-07T03:33:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitchum-deodorant-did-revlons-people-have-to-clear-it-with-robert/432570/1 "2008-01-07T03:33:05Z")
Does anyone know how Mitchum Deodorant got its name? The brand attempts to project a somewhat macho identity, not entirely inconsistent with Robert Mitchum’s image in movies. However, it must be admitted that Mitchum was fairly well known for playing dangerous, unsympathetic characters as much as for any heroic roles. So what’s the deal? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitchum-deodorant-did-revlons-people-have-to-clear-it-with-robert/432570/2 "2008-01-07T03:39:21Z")
First hit on Google for “Robert Mitchum” deodorant. [http://home.sprintmail.com/~sknolle/mitchum/faq.html](http://home.sprintmail.com/~sknolle/mitchum/faq.html) > [@](#): > > Was Mitchum deodorant named after Robert Mitchum? > > Although its campaign, “For those who perspire heavily” appealed to manly men and aspiring Mitchums, Robert never endorsed the deodorant. It’s a wonder he never sued. ---
**Author:** ![D\_White](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@D\_White](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_White)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitchum-deodorant-did-revlons-people-have-to-clear-it-with-robert/432570/3 "2008-01-07T04:48:05Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] First hit on Google for “Robert Mitchum” deodorant. [http://home.sprintmail.com/~sknolle/mitchum/faq.html](http://home.sprintmail.com/~sknolle/mitchum/faq.html) [/QUOTE] Was that your way of saying the answer could have easily have been found using Google? Because what you quoted doesn’t answer the question. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitchum-deodorant-did-revlons-people-have-to-clear-it-with-robert/432570/4 "2008-01-07T05:21:48Z")
> [@The New York Times](#): > > Ellen Maguire, a spokeswoman for Revlon, which makes the deodorant and antiperspirant line, said [t]he product … has no connection to Robert Mitchum… [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/21/nyregion/21mitchum.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/21/nyregion/21mitchum.html) So, no. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitchum-deodorant-did-revlons-people-have-to-clear-it-with-robert/432570/5 "2008-01-07T05:32:32Z")
[QUOTE=D\_White] Was that your way of saying the answer could have easily have been found using Google? Because what you quoted doesn’t answer the question. [/QUOTE] I think it does. It wasn’t officially endorsed by or had as a spokesman Robert Mitchum but it borrowed his name as an iconic figure of the sort it wanted its consumers to identify the product with. The NYT article **Nametag** cites says much the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitchum-deodorant-did-revlons-people-have-to-clear-it-with-robert/432570/6 "2008-01-07T05:33:39Z")
Why would they have to? It’s a last name that lots of people have. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitchum-deodorant-did-revlons-people-have-to-clear-it-with-robert/432570/7 "2008-01-07T06:20:18Z")
[QUOTE=matt\_mcl] Why would they have to? It’s a last name that lots of people have. [/QUOTE] It’s hard to draw what is called a bright line to distinguish cases, but one trademark can infringe another if the average consumer can reasonably be confused about a claim or about an endorsement. And though celebrity law has tightened considerably since 1957 when Mitchum was introduced, even then celebrities had some protection about firms trading on their name or image. From the little bit of history given in the articles it seems that the connection was merely a name and an implication of the actor’s image. Probably it was legally safe. And Mitchum may not have wanted the trouble of a suit. Certainly any case would have depended on the individual details of the particular ads, which we seem to be able to access, so we can’t say anything about them. Even so, a suit shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand. It’s a possible response that doesn’t seem to be frivolous. If people 50 years later are still asking whether a connection exists, a successful case doesn’t seem outlandish to me. ---
**Author:** ![D\_White](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@D\_White](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_White)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitchum-deodorant-did-revlons-people-have-to-clear-it-with-robert/432570/8 "2008-01-07T08:04:03Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] I think it does. [/quote] Where? It never states that Mitchum Deodorant was named after Robert Mitchum. Do you mean the possible implication which was “Robert never endorsed the deodorant. It’s a wonder he never sued”? The answer seems to come from someone that was a “fan” of Robert Mitchum for 13 years and wouldn’t know anything about how Mitchum deodorant got its name. [QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] The NYT article **Nametag** cites says much the same thing. [/QUOTE] Huh?: > [@](#): > > The product, she added, has no connection to Robert Mitchum [QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] If people 50 years later are still asking whether a connection exists, a successful case doesn’t seem outlandish to me. [/quote] A lawsuit’s outlandishness can rest on “people” wondering if there’s a connection many years after a mere idea was proposed? Plenty of people still think Baby Ruth was named after Babe Ruth. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6bbea6/32.png) [@The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Seventh_Deadly_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitchum-deodorant-did-revlons-people-have-to-clear-it-with-robert/432570/9 "2008-01-07T10:11:24Z")
[QUOTE=D\_White] A lawsuit’s outlandishness can rest on “people” wondering if there’s a connection many years after a mere idea was proposed? Plenty of people still think Baby Ruth was named after Babe Ruth. [/QUOTE] [Maybe it was.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Ruth) [QUOTE=Wikipedia] Although the name of the candy bar sounds nearly identical to the name of the famous baseball player Babe Ruth, the Curtiss Candy Company has traditionally claimed that it was named after President Grover Cleveland’s daughter, Ruth Cleveland. Nonetheless, the bar first appeared in 1920, as Babe Ruth’s fame was on the rise and long after Cleveland had left the White House and 16 years after his daughter had died. Moreover, the company had failed to negotiate an endorsement deal with Ruth, and many saw the company’s story about the origin of the name of the bar as merely a way to avoid having to pay the baseball player any royalties. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitchum-deodorant-did-revlons-people-have-to-clear-it-with-robert/432570/10 "2008-01-07T13:57:37Z")
There’s a technical trademark problem with this hypothetical trademark dispute. As Mitchum’s last name, the mark doesn’t get much protection: > [@](#): > > No trademark by which the goods of the applicant may be distinguished from the goods of others shall be refused registration on the principal register on account of its nature unless it— > > (e) Consists of a mark which > (1) when used on or in connection with the goods of the applicant is merely descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive of them, > (2) when used on or in connection with the goods of the applicant is primarily geographically descriptive of them, except as indications of regional origin may be registrable under section 1054 of this title, > (3) when used on or in connection with the goods of the applicant is primarily geographically deceptively misdescriptive of them, > **(4) is primarily merely a surname, or** > (5) comprises any matter that, as a whole, is functional. [15 U.S. Code § 1052 - Trademarks registrable on principal register; concurrent registration | U.S. Code | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute](http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode15/usc_sec_15_00001052----000-.html) While this provision doesn’t sound the death knell to any legal claims Mitchum might have asserted, it would have made the case a bit tougher. [http://www.usip.com/articles/nameastm.htm](http://www.usip.com/articles/nameastm.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitchum-deodorant-did-revlons-people-have-to-clear-it-with-robert/432570/11 "2008-01-07T14:33:45Z")
If Robert Mitchum were to have brought a case, it would most likely not have been a trademark case; it would have been a right of publicity/misappropriation of identity case. It’s really hard to give answers in a situation like this in which there is no public record of a legal dispute. Perhaps Robert Mitchum himself did not believe that the deodorant was trading on his identity? ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitchum-deodorant-did-revlons-people-have-to-clear-it-with-robert/432570/12 "2008-01-07T15:10:52Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] If Robert Mitchum were to have brought a case, it would most likely not have been a trademark case; it would have been a right of publicity/misappropriation of identity case. [/QUOTE] I suspect it would have been both (sort of). See, e.g., [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=6th&navby=docket&no=03a0137p](http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=6th&navby=docket&no=03a0137p) (Lanham Act Section 43(a) and right of publicity) and possibly some state law unfair competition-type claims. In '57, right of publicity law was in its infancy. [http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/iclp/rftb.html](http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/iclp/rftb.html) (1st case was in '53 and involved photos and full names); it’s unlikely he’d rely solely on that. > [@](#): > > It’s really hard to give answers in a situation like this in which there is no public record of a legal dispute. Perhaps Robert Mitchum himself did not believe that the deodorant was trading on his identity? Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitchum-deodorant-did-revlons-people-have-to-clear-it-with-robert/432570/13 "2008-01-07T16:13:16Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] I think it does. It wasn’t officially endorsed by or had as a spokesman Robert Mitchum… [/quote] Which, if anything, suggests it was **not** named after him. > [@](#): > > …it borrowed his name as an iconic figure of the sort it wanted its consumers to identify the product with. Says who? Certainly not the site you linked. Oh, it reads as though the site author **assumes** it was named after him, but it glaringly **failed** to answer the simple yes/no question as to whether it actually was. > [@](#): > > The NYT article **Nametag** cites says much the same thing. In a pig’s eye. The **only** mention of him in that article is the denial that’s there any relation. So the question in the OP remains unanswered. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitchum-deodorant-did-revlons-people-have-to-clear-it-with-robert/432570/14 "2008-01-07T16:21:39Z")
We’re going to have to disagree about this. Personally, I find that notion that the connection made between the actor and the name, marketing, and positioning of the antiperspirant - one that started as soon as the product appeared and continues to this day - is mere coincidence to be untenable. It just _happened_ that Revlon picked that name and it’s just a whole steaming pile of fortuitousness that it conveys exactly that image. Codswallop. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitchum-deodorant-did-revlons-people-have-to-clear-it-with-robert/432570/15 "2008-01-07T16:24:54Z")
Actually, no one has argued that “it just happened that Revlon picked that name.” Revlon might have had all kinds of reasons to pick that name. However, there has been no evidence presented that anyone, including Robert Mitchum himself, thought it was chosen in order to create the impression that it had something to do with Robert Mitchum. ---
**Author:** ![D\_White](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@D\_White](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_White)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitchum-deodorant-did-revlons-people-have-to-clear-it-with-robert/432570/16 "2008-01-07T17:45:40Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] We’re going to have to disagree about this. Personally, I find that notion that the connection made between the actor… [/QUOTE] Okay, so you feel that way personally. But that has nothing to do with your belief that your link answered the question or that because it was the first hit using google, was easily found. No where does your link claim that Revlon “borrowed his name as an iconic figure” and again, it was written by a fan! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitchum-deodorant-did-revlons-people-have-to-clear-it-with-robert/432570/17 "2008-01-07T19:35:06Z")
When was the product launched? Mitchum (the actor) hasn’t exactly been a household name for quite some time. Unless it was launched in the 60s or 70s, I suspect a reference to Robert would be unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitchum-deodorant-did-revlons-people-have-to-clear-it-with-robert/432570/18 "2008-01-07T19:45:56Z")
Reminds me of noted not-in-touch-with-reality idiot Spike Lee threatening to sue Spike TV, alleging that the average person would think he was affiliated with the channel. Moron, I can think of a couple of Spikes more well known than you, you fringer director of crappy movies- most people don’t know you, period, let alone will connect you with a channel that features monster trucks and rasslin- not to mention spike was a word long before it was anyones name. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitchum-deodorant-did-revlons-people-have-to-clear-it-with-robert/432570/19 "2008-01-07T20:04:19Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] When was the product launched? Mitchum (the actor) hasn’t exactly been a household name for quite some time. Unless it was launched in the 60s or 70s, I suspect a reference to Robert would be unlikely. [/QUOTE] I don’t think Robert Mitchum ever really stopped being a household name since his rise to stardom in the late 40s / early 50s. Someone above claims the product was introduced in 1957, which I don’t have any reason to doubt. That’s long enough after Robert Mitchum became established in leading roles that it becomes debatable. Until somebody can dig up info on why “The Mitchum Company” of Paris, TN chose to call themselves “The Mitchum Company”, or dig up evidence that they existed while Robert Mitchum was still relatively unknown, I don’t think we have a definitive answer. Mitchum was acquired by Revlon in 1970. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitchum-deodorant-did-revlons-people-have-to-clear-it-with-robert/432570/20 "2008-01-07T20:08:02Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] When was the product launched? Mitchum (the actor) hasn’t exactly been a household name for quite some time. Unless it was launched in the 60s or 70s, I suspect a reference to Robert would be unlikely. [/QUOTE] The product was launched in 1959. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitchum-deodorant-did-revlons-people-have-to-clear-it-with-robert/432570.md?page=2)