The Electric Hand Torch

In the 1890s, Eveready Battery Company, Inc. was marketing what was called an electric hand torch, known today as the flashlight in most countries. By 1913, the company was acquired by the National Carbon Company, Inc., a unit of Union Carbide & Carbon Corporation, later known as Union Carbide. Sales of its Eveready Layerbilt batteries grew rapidly in the 1920s because of the new craze for the radio, which was battery-operated at the time. The company sponsored The Eveready Hour program.

Perhaps the most important battery-powered invention was the portable transistor radio, which was being sold around the world. The long-lasting alkaline battery was invented in 1957. In 1959, Union Carbide formed a Consumer Products Division in order to capitalize on the trend toward portable radios and other battery-operated gadgets. Fast forward to 1986, as Union Carbide was forced to sell its productive battery unit and restructure in an effort to quell a hostile takeover. Ralston Purina Company was the buyer. Eveready began selling its first lithium AA battery in 1992. 

Eveready established an advertising campaign in 1988 with a series of fake advertisements that would be interrupted by a drum-banging pink bunny in flip-flops. The ads went head-to-head with their rival, Duracell, which had its own bunnies. Eveready's commercials appeared to be real ads for a product, then suddenly the rabbit burst onto the screen, with the slogan “Still going...” Despite the popular Energizer Bunny mascot, the humorous ads did little to increase sales.

Purina spun off Eveready in 2000, renaming the business unit Energizer Holdings, Inc. It is one of the world’s foremost manufacturers of dry cell batteries and flashlights. Its stiffest competition continues to be Duracell.