“When It Rains, It Pours”: The History of the Morton Salt Girl

November 19, 2021 9:14 AM

The history of the "When it rains, it pours" slogan and the Morton Salt Girl logo

"'When it rains, it pours' sounds like wise wisdom from Confucius or the Bible or even the moral of an Aesop’s Fable. In reality, this saying is one of the earliest and most successful advertising slogans of all time, which makes it actually... not that old. The now-popular, but generally-modern adage comes to us from the Morton Salt Company itself, and, when paired with the Morton Salt Girl, it forms the basis for one of the longest running marketing campaigns of all time."

posted by gemmy (46 comments total)

I bike past the old Morton’s Salt warehouse on Elston in Chicago every day for work. Ironically, it’s one of the more treacherous stretches of that street in the winter due to inadequate plowing… and salting.
posted by notoriety public at 9:37 AM on November 19, 2021 [19 favorites]

Wow. All this time I thought they were being clever in using a well known phrase to describe their product. I had no idea they invented the phrase. Wild.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:37 AM on November 19, 2021 [18 favorites]

I swear there used to be a version of this mascot with a dog like tugging at the kid's dress or something. Saying it now, doesn't make much sense for this product.

Interesting that they invented that phrase, we underestimate the power of marketing constantly.
posted by GoblinHoney at 9:39 AM on November 19, 2021

I swear there used to be a version of this mascot with a dog like tugging at the kid's dress or something. Saying it now, doesn't make much sense for this product.

You're thinking of Coppertone sunscreen.
posted by schoolgirl report at 9:41 AM on November 19, 2021 [22 favorites]

I swear there used to be a version of this mascot with a dog like tugging at the kid's dress or something.

You're probably thinking of Coppertone.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 9:41 AM on November 19, 2021 [3 favorites]

Jinx!
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 9:41 AM on November 19, 2021 [3 favorites]

Hey, I know this story, it's a classic. There's lots of salts that you can get that don't have any anti-clumping additions, and yep, they'll turn into big hard blocks that you have to break apart if humidity increases and then drops.

Morton absolutely nailed the slogan, because it's a double entendre, with one meaning semi-negative, and the other wholly positive.

In the modern world, we think of "when it rains, it pours" as meaning when everything is at its worst it just keeps dumping on you. All the worst things possible all happen seemingly at once, in quick succession.

Yet the purpose of the slogan was intended to be a reminder that when it rained, Morton's salt did indeed still pour.

I think it's very interesting that the meaning that is remembered is not the one original intended, and that the turn of phrase has sort of taken a life of its own outside of a marketing gimmick. I think Debord would have called that detournement.
posted by deadaluspark at 9:43 AM on November 19, 2021 [18 favorites]

Fascinating article!

I have a certain fondness for companies that stick to classic logos/brands rather than constantly updating everything to be “modern,” so I choose Morton’s salt over the slightly-cheaper store brand just for the packaging. (And I’ll never forgive UPS for their latest logo redesign.) But I never knew the full history of the logo and slogan.
posted by mbrubeck at 9:44 AM on November 19, 2021 [8 favorites]

Makes more sense than Cerebos's "See How It Runs" slogan, anyway. And what was with that kid chasing a chicken to pour salt on it?
posted by scruss at 10:28 AM on November 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

I bike past the old Morton’s Salt warehouse on Elston in Chicago every day for work. Ironically, it’s one of the more treacherous stretches of that street in the winter due to inadequate plowing… and salting.

Except on Dec 30, 2014. They salted the neighboring car dealership really thoroughly.
posted by srboisvert at 10:35 AM on November 19, 2021 [11 favorites]

scruss, I bet it had something to do with the superstition that salting a bird's tail allowed you to catch it.
posted by telophase at 10:35 AM on November 19, 2021 [6 favorites]

Heh, I’d forgotten about that, srboisvert. It certainly gives some background to the major roof repair which has been ongoing for the last couple of months. The roof was completely torn off, and they’re partway through putting up a new one.
posted by notoriety public at 10:42 AM on November 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

I'm pretty sure it was a comment on some earlier thread that taught me why Morton's would have that slogan. It never occurred to me that table salt would clump due to humidity (even though my mom used to put rice in our salt shakers).
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 10:44 AM on November 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

Have you seen the Morton Salt/OK Go collaboration "The One Moment"? It's remarkable.
posted by The Half Language Plant at 10:46 AM on November 19, 2021 [3 favorites]

I did a focus group once where Morton Salt was mortified that many people had bootlegged their sweet little girl logo image and put "salty b*tch" as a caption. They were very worried people would think their company put out such a sentiment, and recoiled at the idea of calling a little girl such a misogynistic word. I instantly loved them for this. A company that old struggles with the stealing ease of the internet.
posted by tiny frying pan at 10:56 AM on November 19, 2021 [21 favorites]

“It never rains but it pours” dates to the eighteenth century. It’s only the “When it rains, it pours” formulation that comes to us from the Morton Salt Company.
posted by mayhap at 10:58 AM on November 19, 2021 [33 favorites]

And here I was, thinking the slogan meant you shouldn't be sad when it's raining outside, because you can stay inside and make things with Morton's Salt!
posted by feistycakes at 11:04 AM on November 19, 2021 [4 favorites]

Fun fact: The roof repair of the Morton's Salt building in Chicago is part of a project to turn it into a music venue.
posted by misskaz at 11:10 AM on November 19, 2021 [4 favorites]

Family lore has it that my wife's grandfather was the commercial artist who drew the Morton's Salt girl (probably the 1941 version, if true). But something like that is hard to verify.
posted by rikschell at 11:17 AM on November 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

"When it rains it pours" was in The Primitive Methodist Magazine, published 1878. It was referred to there as a proverb.

Google ngram search shows it certianly took off with Morton, but it was around back to 1840.
posted by joeyh at 11:21 AM on November 19, 2021 [12 favorites]

I thought the girl in the rain with the non-sequitur bromide was just the classic logo for The Morton Company rather than something having to do specifically with salt.

"Mr. Morton, your anti-caking technology will be so successful that someday people will puzzle over your slogan not even remembering there was a time when salt didn't pour that way."
posted by straight at 11:23 AM on November 19, 2021 [2 favorites]

The shed is now a landmark!
posted by JoeZydeco at 11:35 AM on November 19, 2021

You're thinking of Coppertone sunscreen.

I was going to chime in with a favorite bit of dinner party trivia "And did you know that the original model for the Coppertone girl was Jodie Foster??" but sadly I just learned that it's not actually true. (She appeared in a Coppertone TV commercial as a 2 year-old in the 1960s, but the original illustration dates to the previous decade.)
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:57 AM on November 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

Subsidiary Morton-Thiokol was responsible for manufacturing the failed shuttle Challenger O-ring, for which the parody slogan 'When it freezes, it breaks' fits. Morton later split up Thiokol, absorbing the chemical business and selling off the rocket-related part. Whenever I see Morton salt, that's what I remember.
posted by zaixfeep at 12:28 PM on November 19, 2021 [7 favorites]

The landmark news JoeZydeco links mentions the history of Chicago in "salt production", which surprised me a little, so:

Morton started as a sales agency for Onondaga salt

The natural brine springs near Onondaga lake have been used for salt production since at least the "mid-18th century", maybe much longer. From then until the early 20th C, much drilling, draining, industrial use, the rise of Syracuse NY. Now the artificially pierced and interconnected hydrology is an interesting problem for the USGS.

Of course the Meatpacking City needs salt, and hey, Onondaga Lake joins the East and West Erie Canals.

(I don't find any references to salt in the history of Syracuse in Sicily.)
posted by clew at 12:30 PM on November 19, 2021 [5 favorites]

And here I was, thinking the slogan meant you shouldn't be sad when it's raining outside, because you can stay inside and make things with Morton's Salt!
posted by feistycakes at 11:04 on

You could make things like cake. With a salt which has anti-caking technology.
Combining matter and anti-matter releases energy. Combining cake and anti-cake releases deliciousness. And in your case, also feistiness.
posted by otherchaz at 12:48 PM on November 19, 2021 [4 favorites]

Some pre-Morton's citations:

1825   André Vieusseux, Anselmo: a Tale of Italy 90   At Naples, when it rains, it pours
1835   Henry Ware, Scenes and Characters Illustrating Christian Truth 109   But there never was a truer saying,—‘When it rains it pours.’
1844   M. W. Phillips, Trans. New York State Agricultural Society IV. 352   Our seasons of wet are uncertain—sometimes of short duration, again for a month, and “when it rains it pours.”

Clearly in 1835 it was already a well-known proverb.
posted by cyanistes at 1:17 PM on November 19, 2021 [13 favorites]

As far as I can determine, the first instances in print date to 1726 when it was used as the beginning of a title: It cannot rain but it pours: or, London strow'd with rarities. Being, an account of the arrival of a white bear, at the house of Mr. Ratcliff in Bishopsgate-Street: as also of Faustina, the celebrated Italian singing woman; and of the copper-farthing dean from Ireland. And lastly of the wonderful Wild Man that was nursed in the woods of Germany by a wild beast, hunted and taken in toils; how he behaveth himself like a dumb creature, and is a christian like one of us, being called Peter; and how he was brought to court all in green, to the great astonishment of the quality and gentry, 1726. Although it may have been by Alexander Pope, John Arbuthnot or some other member of the Scriblerus Club.
posted by slkinsey at 1:58 PM on November 19, 2021 [5 favorites]

I know that more than once in my life I've puzzled over the logo and slogan, thinking "what does rain have to do with selling salt?", so I appreciate this article. Also, thanks for the etymological research here to dispute that Morton invented the phrase. After learning the double meaning of the slogan, it still didn't seem like it would have punch if it weren't playing on something that was already familiar.
posted by polecat at 2:41 PM on November 19, 2021 [3 favorites]

I want to commend everyone who has refrained from alluding to the infinite self-referentiality of the Morton Salt Girl image. That way madness lies! "This is the song that never ends..."
posted by homerica at 2:41 PM on November 19, 2021 [3 favorites]

My grandmother grew up before non-caking salt and kept the habit of putting a few grains of uncooked rice in each salt shaker her entire life, even after it was no longer necessary.
posted by Lexica at 2:45 PM on November 19, 2021 [3 favorites]

I did a focus group once where Morton Salt was mortified that many people had bootlegged their sweet little girl logo image and put "salty b*tch" as a caption. They were very worried people would think their company put out such a sentiment, and recoiled at the idea of calling a little girl such a misogynistic word. I instantly loved them for this. A company that old struggles with the stealing ease of the internet.

posted by tiny frying pan

This is the purest thing I have read on the internet today. In fact, this entire thread is quite lovely.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 3:31 PM on November 19, 2021 [9 favorites]

Those 1825 and 1844 citations seem more like straightforward descriptions of the climate than aphorisms: when it rains here, the rain is usually heavy. I wouldn't count a citation of someone saying "It's always sunny in Phoenix, Arizona" as prior art for "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."
posted by straight at 4:20 PM on November 19, 2021 [3 favorites]

There was a beach towel with the Morton Salt Girl on it at my Grandma’s lake cottage when I was a kid. It was always “my” towel for the week we spent there every summer. It eventually faded to where you could barely make out the picture.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 4:39 PM on November 19, 2021 [2 favorites]

> I want to commend everyone who has refrained from alluding to the infinite self-referentiality of the Morton Salt Girl image. That way madness lies! "This is the song that never ends..."

Fortunately for us, her elbow and forearm covers the artwork on the container she's carrying, so we are spared the potential recursion.
posted by ardgedee at 6:11 PM on November 19, 2021 [2 favorites]

I was a little kid when they last changed the Morton salt girl design in 1968. It blew my mind because I'd never noticed a logo change before that. I wonder why they haven't changed it in more than 50 years, after updating the art every decade before that. Those too loose and too short dresses were a pain to wear even back when they were stylish.
posted by Miss Cellania at 6:24 PM on November 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

Fortunately for us, her elbow and forearm covers the artwork on the container she's carrying, so we are spared the potential recursion.

You mean it's not salt shaker's all the way down?
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 6:46 PM on November 19, 2021 [2 favorites]

One of my favorite bands (that doesn't suck, for all you old timers who read the posts down here) Jawbreaker had a T-shirt that referenced the Morton's ads. I think I have one around here somewhere but it is too small for me now.

More recently, we did a thing at work this past summer where if we knew it was going to be a rainy or otherwise not great beach day, we'd open for lunch and bowling (we'd be otherwise not open for lunch, I won't recap the whole pandemic-work restaurant saga here) and a little light went off in my brain. So we made these T-shirts with our owl logo in place of the girl, beer taps instead of the umbrella and rain and salt, our company name instead of Morton's, and... wait for it...WHEN IT RAINS, WE POUR instead of the slogan.

They are not selling like hotcakes exactly, but they are selling.
posted by vrakatar at 8:36 PM on November 19, 2021 [11 favorites]

Metafilter: A grain of salt.
posted by clavdivs at 9:14 PM on November 19, 2021

Fun fact, Morton's, since divested, Thiokol division is largely to blame for the Challenger Disaster.
posted by octothorpe at 5:17 AM on November 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

Why is no one talking about how fucking annoying this logo is? Hey, kid! You're spilling the salt! The fuck is wrong with you! Dumbass! Every damn time I see this logo I get annoyed. And I am sure this is one reason for its longevity; it's memorable.

Idiot!
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:43 AM on November 20, 2021 [2 favorites]

It certainly gives some background to the major roof repair which has been ongoing for the last couple of months. The roof was completely torn off, and they’re partway through putting up a new one.

I was worried that this iconic logo would be replaced when I heard they were turning the site into a music venue, but it looks like it’s landmarked now. Block Club has a number of articles on the landmarking and music development plans for the Chicago venue if you’re interested. And streetsblog covers the parking situation that might interest a biker.
posted by Bunglegirl at 5:46 AM on November 20, 2021

Why is no one talking about Morton's obviously superior tagline, "Help keep your family goiter free!"

I kid, but iodized salt was actually an important public health innovation, even if fancy modern chefs don't like its taste.
posted by agentofselection at 8:04 AM on November 20, 2021 [7 favorites]

So am I the only one in the course of reading the possible origins of the phrase who ended up with the '72 one hit wonder coursing through my brain?

It never rains in California
But girl, don't they warn ya?
It pours, man, it pours
posted by thecincinnatikid at 10:24 AM on November 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

Why did they stop using magnesium carbonate? Is it carcinogenic or somethi--

"[...]the only known side effect is that it may work as a laxative in high concentrations."

pfffffffff
posted by BiggerJ at 4:33 PM on November 20, 2021

This article makes me feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

"'When it rains, it pours,' sounds like wise wisdom from Confucius or the Bible or even the moral of an Aesop’s Fable."

No it doesn't.

"The now-popular, but generally-modern adage comes to us from the Morton Salt Company itself"

No it doesn't.

"But the meaning has evolved."

No it hasn't.

"Instead of referring to clump-free salt, it now describes a situation when, after one negative thing happens, more bad luck follows."

That's what it originally meant.

"... even though it had a much more literal meaning when it came out"

It still does. It was a pun on the older (but not BIBLICALLY older, criminy) saying, whose meaning is pretty clear if you LOOK AT THE ACCOMPANYING PICTURE and it STILL MEANS THAT because LOTS OF SALT STILL CLUMPS IN HIGH HUMIDITY and AAAAAAAAA!!!!!
posted by kyrademon at 12:53 PM on November 23, 2021 [1 favorite]