“I am stuck on Band-Aid brand ‘cuz Band-Aid stuck on me!”
The long-time slogan of Band-Aid debuted in 1975, earning a Clio award; the catchy jingle remains one of the most recognized tunes in advertising history.
Originally, made by hand and packaged in a tin can, Johnson & Johnson’s Band-Aid brand adhesive bandages officially went on the market in January 1921.
Josephine Dickson was accident-prone, especially in the kitchen. She was always cutting or burning her fingers while preparing food. She often used what she could find around the house to cover the wound and then continued with chopping, slicing, cutting and serving. Sounds appetizing.
Margaret Gurowitz, Johnson and Johnson’s chief historian had this to say: “Put yourself in her shoes. She can leave the cut unbandaged, which slows healing and risks infection; she can struggle one-handed to try to tie a strip of gauze around her finger; she can go to the rag bag and tear off a strip of fabric and try to tie that around her finger, or she can try to put together a bulky makeshift bandage. The problem? These options are very hard to do by yourself, and they don’t stay on to protect the cut while it heals.”
Josephine’s husband, Earle, was employed as a cotton buyer for the pharmaceutical company Johnson and Johnson and he put together two products that formed an adhesive bandage that could be cut to size and self-applied. Many times, Mrs. Dickson tried out the product only to report that it didn’t work very well. The gauze and adhesive tape didn’t stay in place and soon after the bandage was applied, it fell off. Hopefully, it didn’t land in the soup.
Tweaking his original idea, Earle took a piece of gauze and attached it to the center of a piece of tape and then covered the product with crinoline to keep it sterile. Without assistance, Josephine used the newly created bandage to dress her wound and it stayed in place. Success!
Refinements to the original Band-Aid were made, but sales remained slow. A publicity stunt of gifting these Band-Aids to Boy Scout troops to include in first-aid kits was ingenious. This was the beginning of marketing strategies that helped familiarize the general public with the Johnson and Johnson name and their new product. Sales soared!
Part of the sustainability promise of Band-Aid is “choices that heal and contribute to the best possible outcomes – for our customers, the planet, and the society we live in.”
My dad contributed some of his hard-earned dollars to the financial success of Johnson and Johnson. I remember the inventory of the medicine cabinet in the bathroom in the house where I grew up. It was chock full and not just with Band-Aids, but various bandages, salves and ointments.
My dear mother played the role of “the lady with the lamp” so many times that she should be granted an honorary degree in nursing. She did a great job applying those sticky adhesives to my wounds. Thanks, Mom!
I skinned my knees more than once while performing Evel Knievel stunts on my orange bicycle. I still ride a bike but if I have an accident now it’s because I didn’t mean to. No more performances.
Once I slipped and fell, slicing my thumb open on an old glass Coke bottle embedded in the Dolly Ann creek bottom. Did I mention it was winter and my mother told me and my brother Andy not to get in? Rebels.
I have to tell you about the morning Andy and I were waiting on the school bus. We thought it was a good idea to pass the time with some gymnastics. Taking turns vaulting over each other’s backs was a blast.
“My turn!”
“Stay down, Andy, I’m coming over!”
I can still hear myself saying those words to him. What did he not understand about my command? It was a blast all right.
He got up just before I was to make a perfect vault over. My forehead made contact with the pavement. Double ouch. The gash from a little fun required more than one Band-Aid. Lest I mention that I had to get new eyeglasses? A permanent scar from that eventful game of leapfrog serves as a bittersweet reminder of the fun we had that morning.
I was with my friend Linda Lou when I slipped and fell in the waters of Back Creek, cutting my big toe on a sharp rock. Her mom, Janice O’Farrell, had to put on her nurse coat and take care of my wound. Linda and I were told not to get in the creek. Rule breakers.
Guess what was stocked in my first-aid kit while my kids were growing up? You guessed it! Band-Aids in all sorts of sizes, colors and designs. Band-Aid brand, of course. This momma applied many of those stickies to the cuts, scrapes, and burns of my kiddos.
Time passes quickly and now my children apply Band-Aids on the wounds of their precious ones.
Tending to physical wounds is imperative, but caring for spiritual wounds requires critical attention. A Band-Aid and salve may do the trick when it comes to superficial physical wounds.
But how about the spiritual wounds? Sin, shame, rejection, addiction, oppression, fear, insecurity, anxiety. You fill in the blank. Those need more than a Band-Aid. Spiritual needs require immediate attention that can only be found in the eternal healer.
I don’t know what wounds you have that need healing, but God certainly does. He hears. He cares. He heals.
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 1147:3 ESV)
The Word of God is chock full of foundational truths that have the cure for whatever is ailing you. Biblical balm heals and sustains.
As a mother, I want to fix everything. But in reality, I can’t. I don’t look in the ragbag and my children know not to either.
Stop and take inventory. What’s in your first-aid kit?
“Life with God is not immunity from difficulties, but peace in difficulties,” said C.S. Lewis.