Unilever introduced an improved version of Planta’s margerine. But as Planta’s sales curves soared, Dutch doctors began getting patients troubled by a strange and painful itch.

Early last month, when a splashy advertising campaign urged Dutchmen to “taste the improvement” in their favorite spread, thousands of housewives obediently followed directions. Most of them agreed that there was indeed something different about the new version of their old friend Planta, the good-eating margarine made by Van den…

Toothpaste manufacturer Pepsodent was bought by Lever Brothers Co. of Mass., a subsidiary of the Netherlands Lever Brothers & Unilever, N.V.

Three months ago handsome Charles Luckman, 35, vowed he would sell The Pepsodent Co. of Chicago to no one (TIME, April 10). Last week, amid considerable commercial mystery, President Luckman sold the company for “upwards of $10 million.” The buyer was Lever Brothers Co. of Mass., subsidiary of the Netherlands…