By: Keith Kappes
Columnist
Carter County Times
My father used Mennen Skin Bracer after shave, Mennen Speed Stick deodorant and Gillette razors and shaving cream. For about 65 years, I’ve been buying and using the same products.
And at least three of my sons have followed my lead, but not as consistently.
Dad said he preferred that brand because those products did not have a strong, “perfumey” scent. He mentioned one day that his admiration for “Soapy” Williams was another reason to buy those products.
A great aunt visiting from Michigan heard that remark and began debating him on her Republican beliefs versus the Democratic policies of Gov. G. Mennen Williams, six-term governor of Michigan, better known politically as “Soapy”.
It seems “Soapy” was the grandson of Gerhard Mennen, founder of the Mennen Company of Morristown, New Jersey. Mennen was acquired in 1992 by Colgate Palmolive.
A succession of girlfriends and a wife encouraged me to buy and use other after shave lotions which had a more pleasant, longer lasting scent but I was determined to stay with Mennen’s manly smell.
Later, when “thanks, I needed that” became popular as Skin Bracer’s key advertising phrase, I smiled through those commercials and felt vindicated.
My grandfather was a hardcore Democrat and I know he and one of his sons, my Uncle Richard, influenced me to adopt the same political party. But I’ve had mixed results in politically indoctrinating my own family members.
Someone recently asked if I planned to run for anything else. My answer was “the county line”.
So why do we follow the habits of our family members and friends and others we admire?
Does it really matter where we work? Or where we live? In what kind of a house? Or what kind of car or truck we drive? Or the horsepower of the outboard motor on our boat? Or the type of long guns we hang on a rack in the rear window of our pickup truck? Or where we invest our money? Or how many children we have?
My answer to these questions is that we Americans have the freedom to decide just about anything for ourselves and that we can follow the example of anyone we choose.
Contact Keith at keithkappes@gmail.com.
