Buying the New Yorker 1976 - page 15

There's quite a bit of text here, but it doesn't help answer the question that has haunted me for ages.


Why is it called "Oil of Olay" in America and "Oil of Ulay" in the UK?

What I've learned so far:

"Olay" is a made up word. It seems to have been derived from the word "lanolin."

As the product was introduced to various countries, the name was tweaked to sound better, thus Oil of Ulay (UK), Oil of Ulan (Australia) and Oil of Olaz (Netherlands).

In 1999, all of the brand names were unified so that they are all now "Oil of Olay." I am astonished that I completely missed this.

This is the Oil of Olay global portal, you can click through to the country of your choice (I find Turkey particularly spiffy). You can get live online skin consultation through all of them (I did not have the courage to try this). I am quite delighted with this feature from the UK site. Just enter a friend's name and e-mail and write out a compliment that you'd like to give this person, and Oil of Olay (no longer Ulay!) will send your friend a personalized flash-animated spam ad!