Pears (soap) had so much success that Pears purchased the copyright to produce copies as advertisements for their soap products. They were made for shop counter displays in terracotta, plaster and metal. From the late 19th century, Pears soap was famous for its marketing, masterminded by Barratt. Its campaign using John Everett Millais's painting "Bubbles" continued over many decades. As with many other brands at the time, at the beginning of the 20th century Pears also used their product as a sign of the prevailing European concept of the "civilizing mission" of empire and trade, in which the soap stands for progress.
It Pays to Advertise 1925, a total of 598 performances. It was the first of a sequence of twelve "Aldwych farces" presented at the theatre until 1933, mostly original farces written by Ben Travers. By contrast with later plays in the series, in which Walls played worldly and sometimes shady characters, with Ralph Lynn as his naïve associate, in "It Pays to Advertise" Walls's character is upright and conventional, and Lynn is the manipulative schemer. From the revised (London) version of the play. Mary Grayson, secretary to the soap magnate, Sir Henry Martin, is awaiting the arrival of his son, Rodney. While she waits,