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Jul 22, 2009 03:30 PM
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Cadillac was purchased by General Motors a hundred years ago and as part of the anniversary celebration GM is licensing a line of Cadillac branded products for men. Grapefruit, chamomile, geranium, tarragon and cinnamon anyone?
A little known fact about Cadillac is that it began life in 1901 not as Cadillac, but as The Henry Ford Company (yes, that Henry Ford). Ford founded the company under his own name from the leftovers of the first car company he started, Detroit Automobile Company. He was pushed out of The Henry Ford Company by the board of directors in 1902 and the assets were taken over by his backers. The company was renamed Cadillac while Henry went on to found the Ford Motor Company, but it wasn't till 1909 that William Durant's General Motors purchased Cadillac, and thus the 100-year anniversary.
Enter the Dubai-based cosmetic company Beauty Contact Inc., holder of the "Cadillac" fragrance license which will be producing a line of cosmetics for men scheduled to go on sale in the fall. The lineup will include a cologne, aftershave, deodorant, and hair and body wash each scented with, and we're not kidding here, grapefruit, chamomile, geraniums, tarragon, cinnamon, sweet spice and incense. Strange way to celebrate a brand which once rightfully went by the slogan "The Standard of the World." What happened to the smell of machine turned aluminum, crank case oil, fine leather, mahogany and the sweat of the proletariat masses below you?
Of course, the products are being marketed by Beauty Contact Inc. as "a relevant extension of the Cadillac lifestyle," and a "tribute to the opulence and extravagance of past eras, as well as the luxury and ease of today," but at $73 for a bottle of cologne, we're thinking the idea just plain stinks. [TheStar]
Send an email to Ben, the author of this post, at ben@jalopnik.com.
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