Better Living Through Chemistry
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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""Better things for better living … through chemistry" was a Dupont advertising slogan that ran from 1935 until 1982."--Sholem Stein |
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The phrase "Better Living Through Chemistry" is a variant of a DuPont advertising slogan, "Better Things for Better Living...Through Chemistry." DuPont adopted it in 1935 and was their slogan until 1982 when the "Through Chemistry" bit was dropped; in 1999 it was replaced by "The miracles of science".
This phrase became popular as culture shifted from mod to hippie in the later half of the 1960s. Protesters would show up for a rally, perhaps to protest a chemical plant, wearing DuPont propaganda buttons, which bore this slogan.
Protests in the 1960s didn't all revolve around the Vietnam War; Dow Chemical and DuPont were common targets, as people disliked the "artificiality" they represented.
The phrase "Better Living Through Chemistry" was used on products that were not affiliated with DuPont to circumvent trademark infringement. This transmutation is now more commonly used than the original. This statement is used for commentary on several different topics, from the promotion of illegal drugs, to the praise of chemicals and plastics, to the criticism of the same, sarcastically.
This phrase is sometimes associated with Aldous Huxley's book Brave New World, though it does not actually appear in the text of the book.
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