Roto-Rooter Jingle Turns 50

Roto-Rooter celebrates the golden anniversary of its jingle this year, showing that for half a century customers have been singing "... and away go troubles down the drain."

In 1954, the Roto-Rooter jingle had to compete with other companies like Brylcreem ("a little dab'll do ya") and Campbell's Soup ("Mmm, Mmm, Good"). But though advertisers have moved away from using catchy songs to grab consumer attention, Roto-Rooter is among only a few companies to leave its jingle intact and untouched for this long.

The originator of the Roto-Rooter song, Tom Fouts (AKA Captain Stubby) recently passed away, but his contribution to the musical advertising vehicle has not been forgotten.

"Roto-Rooter can attribute much of its long-standing reputation to the appeal of its 50-year-old jingle," says Spencer Lee, CEO for Roto-Rooter Services Co. "The fact that people can still sing the tune today shows just how linked it has become to our brand and our popularity with homeowners."

While the jingle always has appeared in Roto-Rooter radio, TV and Yellow Pages ads, the company recently added the famous musical scroll to its billboard and print advertising campaigns.