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{{Short description|American brand of over-the-counter medications}}
{{infobox brand
|name = Vicks
|logo = VicksLogo.png
|type = [[Over-the-counter substance|Over-the-counter]] [[medicines]]
|currentowner = {{ubl|[[Procter & Gamble]]|[[Kaz Incorporated]]|(VapoSteam & VapoPads)}}
|origin = United States
|introduced = {{start date and age|1898}}
|discontinued = 
|related = Wick
|markets = 
|previousowners = Richardson-Vicks, Inc.
|ambassadors = 
|tagline = "Breathe Life In"
|website = {{url|vicks.com}}
|misc={{ubl|'''Former names''':|Lunsford Richardson Wholesale Drug Company (1898–1905)|Vick's Family Remedies (1905–1911)|Vick Chemical Company (1911–1982)}}}}
'''Vicks''' is an American brand of [[Over-the-counter substance|over-the-counter]] [[medication]]s owned by the American companies [[Procter & Gamble]] and [[Kaz Incorporated]]. Vicks manufactures [[NyQuil]] and its sister medication, [[DayQuil]] as well as other medications in the "Quil" line. Vicks also produces the Formula 44 brand of [[cough medicine]]s, [[Throat lozenge|cough drops]], [[Vicks VapoRub]], and a number of [[Vicks Sinex|inhaled breathing treatments]]. For much of its history, Vicks products were manufactured by the family-owned company Richardson-Vicks, Inc., based in [[Greensboro, North Carolina]]. Richardson-Vicks, Inc., was eventually sold to Procter & Gamble in 1985. Procter & Gamble divested the Vicks VapoSteam U.S. liquid inhalant business and sold it to Helen of Troy in 2015.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/procter-gamble-sells-vicks-vapostream-u-s-business-to-helen-of-troy-1427842613|title=Procter & Gamble Sells Vicks VapoStream U.S. Business to Helen of Troy|last=Beckerman|first=Josh|website=WSJ|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-20|archive-date=2020-03-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200306005753/https://www.wsj.com/articles/procter-gamble-sells-vicks-vapostream-u-s-business-to-helen-of-troy-1427842613|url-status=live}}</ref>

In [[German-speaking countries]] (apart from Switzerland), Vicks is known as ''Wick'' to avoid [[brand blunder]]ing, as "Vicks" when pronounced in [[German language|German]] would sound similar to a vulgar word.<ref>{{cite web |title=WICK Vaporub Erkältungssalbe: gegen Erkältung |url=http://www.wick.de/produkte/gegen-schnupfen/vapo-rub-erkaeltungssalbe-was-hilft-gegen-schnupfen/ |publisher=Wick.de |date=2016-01-02 |language=de |access-date=2017-06-17 |archive-date=2014-02-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140210002812/http://www.wick.de/produkte/gegen-schnupfen/vapo-rub-erkaeltungssalbe-was-hilft-gegen-schnupfen/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==History ==
[[File:Greensboro_North_Carolina,_"City_of_Charm.".jpg|thumb|A North Carolina postcard featuring Vicks]]
In 1890, pharmacist [[Lunsford Richardson]] of [[Selma, North Carolina]], took over the retail drug business of his brother-in-law Dr. John Vick, of [[Greensboro, North Carolina]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://vicks.com/en-us/vicks-history|title=Vicks History|website=vicks.com|access-date=2016-03-26|archive-date=2016-03-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160326150957/http://vicks.com/en-us/vicks-history|url-status=live}}</ref> After Dr. John Vick saw an ad for ''Vick's Seeds'', Lunsford Richardson began marketing ''Vick’s Family Remedies''.<ref name=":0" /> The basic ingredients of the range of products included [[castor oil]], [[liniment]], and 'dead shot' [[vermifuge]].<ref name=":0" /> The most popular remedy was ''[[Croup]] and Pneumonia Salve'', which was first compounded in 1891, in Greensboro. It was introduced in 1905 with the name Vick's Magic Croup Salve<ref>{{Cite web |last=Davidson |first=Davidson College The Davidson College wordmark |last2=USA894-2000 |first2=North Carolina 28035 |title=Vicks VapoRub: A Household Name With Campus Connections |url=https://www.davidson.edu/news/2022/01/10/vicks-vaporub-household-name-campus-connections |access-date=2022-03-02 |website=Davidson |language=en |archive-date=2022-03-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220302173718/https://www.davidson.edu/news/2022/01/10/vicks-vaporub-household-name-campus-connections |url-status=live }}</ref> and rebranded as [[Vicks VapoRub|VapoRub]] in 1912<ref>{{Cite web |last=Drier |first=Mary |date=2020-02-28 |title=The two Vs of home remedies and mustard patches |url=https://www.michigansthumb.com/news/article/The-two-Vs-of-home-remedies-and-mustard-patches-15089118.php |access-date=2022-03-02 |website=Huron Daily Tribune |language=en-US |archive-date=2022-03-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220302173808/https://www.michigansthumb.com/news/article/The-two-Vs-of-home-remedies-and-mustard-patches-15089118.php |url-status=live }}</ref> at the instigation of H. Smith Richardson, Lunsford's oldest son, who had gained valuable sales and marketing experience while working for a period in New York and Massachusetts after attending college. Smith Richardson assumed the presidency of the company in 1919 upon his father's death.

Lunsford Richardson sent out millions of samples of Vicks VapoRub, "inadvertently" inventing the concept of [[Advertising mail|junk mail]], say North Carolina state historians.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newsobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article297366119.html|title=Vicks VapoRub creator also invented this annoyance. He was born 170 years ago in NC|last=Jasper|first=Simone|work=[[News & Observer]]|date=December 30, 2024|access-date=January 6, 2025}}</ref> The [[flu epidemic of 1918]] increased sales of VapoRub from $900,000 to $2.9 million in just one year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wakehealth.edu/News-Releases/2009/Popular_Cold_and_Cough_Treatment_May_Create_Respiratory_Distress_in_Young_Children.htm|title=Popular Cold and Cough Treatment May Create Respiratory Distress in Young Children|website=www.wakehealth.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-01-23|archive-date=2018-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180124071315/http://www.wakehealth.edu/News-Releases/2009/Popular_Cold_and_Cough_Treatment_May_Create_Respiratory_Distress_in_Young_Children.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1931, the company began selling cough drops.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/triad/news/2018/08/15/p-g-product-invented-in-greensboro-proves-key-to.html|title=P&G product – invented in Greensboro – proves key to outfoxing thieves|last=Brusman|first=Barrett|date=15 August 2018|website=www.bizjournals.com|access-date=2019-11-20|archive-date=2021-01-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210102105005/https://www.bizjournals.com/triad/news/2018/08/15/p-g-product-invented-in-greensboro-proves-key-to.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1948, [[Edward Mabry]] became president of Vicks, then known as the '''Vick Chemical Company'''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/05/obituaries/edward-l-mabry-executive-91.html|title=Edward L. Mabry, Executive, 91|date=1989-02-05|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-11-20|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=2017-12-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171221004702/http://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/05/obituaries/edward-l-mabry-executive-91.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1952, Vicks began selling cough syrup, and in 1959 they introduced Sinex Nasal Spray.<ref name=":2" /> The company began selling NyQuil in 1966.<ref name=":2" /> The parent company became [[Richardson-Merrell]] and then in 1982 divided into prescription drug company Merrell Dow (sold to [[Dow Chemical Company]]) and over-the-counter drug company '''Richardson-Vicks''' which retained the Vicks brand.

The company archives (including related personal records of the Richardson family) from at least about 1920 or so, up to the 1985 sale to Procter & Gamble, are housed at the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/04468/|title=Richardson-Vicks, Inc., Records, 1885-1995|website=finding-aids.lib.unc.edu|access-date=2018-01-23|archive-date=2018-01-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180109154854/http://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/04468/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In March 2015, Procter & Gamble sold the Vicks VapoSteam U.S. liquid inhalant business  to [[Helen of Troy Limited|Helen of Troy Ltd]].<ref name=":1" />

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.vicks.com Vicks brand website]
* [http://www.vicks.ca Vicks brand website - Canada]
* [http://www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/r/Richardson-Vicks,Inc.html Finding Aid for the Richardson-Vicks, Inc., Records #4468], Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
* [http://www.wick.de Wick] {{in lang|de}}
* [http://www.ncpedia.org/vick-chemical-company Vick Chemical Company] at the ''Encyclopedia of North Carolina''
* [https://www.wsj.com/articles/procter-gamble-sells-vicks-vapostream-u-s-business-to-helen-of-troy-1427842613 Procter & Gamble Sells Vicks VapoStream U.S. Business to Helen of Troy], Wall Street Journal

{{Procter & Gamble}}

[[Category:Vicks brands| ]]
[[Category:Procter & Gamble brands]]
[[Category:Ointments]]
[[Category:Products introduced in 1890]]