Pluto Water's Slogans & Taglines

Pluto Water was a trademark for a strongly laxative natural mineral water bottled in French Lick, Indiana, from approximately 1890 until 1971. Named after the Roman god of the underworld—a reference to the water's subterranean source—the product was sourced from the naturally occurring Pluto Spring, whose sulphate and magnesium-rich waters were believed to possess remarkable therapeutic and healing properties. The water was marketed primarily as a natural cure for constipation, earning the moniker America's Laxative and America's Physic in newspaper advertisements as early as 1904. Core offerings encompassed both the natural spring water and a concentrated boiled-down version, alongside a crystallised effervescent variant called French Lick Salts introduced in 1930. Brand messaging was anchored by the iconic slogan When Nature Won't, Pluto Will, which began appearing in advertising around 1920 and became one of the most memorable taglines in American patent medicine history. The product was distributed nationwide and internationally, reaching drug stores across the United States and markets as far as Europe, Cuba, South America, and Japan. Production was suspended in 1971 when lithium—a key active component—became a controlled substance, ending an era that had spanned over eight decades.