Potz blitz!

Because of a slimming bath product called Peng, Gottlieb Duttweiler had to change the name of his new cleaning agent from Päng to Potz. Shortly afterwards, he was accused by Unilever subsidiary Sunlight of imitating their brand product Vim and convicted of unfair competitive practices.

In January 1932, Gottlieb Duttweiler announces a “record reduction in prices”. Migros AG will “supply a product guaranteed to be of equal quality to a well-known brand product” for a third of the price. In the following week, he launches the cleaning agent Päng, the packaging of which is clearly similar to the brand product Vim from Unilever. A chemical analysis also shows that Päng contains the same ingredients as Vim, but in different proportions. Migros cheekily launches the rival product under the slogan: “Wim-mern Sie nicht mehr wegen dem zu hohen Preis, sondern Päng-en Sie nach Herzenslust.” (Don’t complain about the price being too high, but Päng away to your heart's content.)
No sooner is the “universal cleaning agent” Päng launched than the owner of the slimming bath product Peng complains about the choice of name. Duttweiler has to rename his product and chooses a new name that is equally catchy – Potz.

Vim, a product from the international Unilever concern, is represented in Switzerland by Sunlight. In the name of the parent company, Sunlight sues Migros AG for unfair competition, demanding CHF20,000 in compensation. Thus, Gottlieb Duttweiler's plan pays off: the legal process guarantees him the publicity he needs in his fight against the overpriced brand products. By staging the process as the battle of little Migros against the powerful, foreign Unilever, he cannot lose. In the Brücke, he coaxes customers: “We want to show the international concerns that their powerful methods fail to change the insight and solidarity of the Swiss housewives, and that they may win processes, but in doing so they may greatly forfeit the sympathy of the housewives!”
In the summer, the Zurich commercial court decides in favour of Migros, but Sunlight takes the case further to the Federal Court, which orders Duttweiler to pay CHF1,000 in compensation for unfair competition. The coverage of the process in the Swiss daily press and the advertising it brings Migros is, however, worth much more. And sales of Potz are already more than 3,000 kilos, or 6,000 packets, a day.