Print advertisement for toxaphene produced by Hercules Powder Company depicts a circular photograph of cotton field with cotton pickers and a man overseeing the workers. A wedge cut out of the photograph reads "Average reduction cotton acreage for 1950" with accompanying paragraph tagline reading "More cotton per acre through insect control."

Originally trademarked by the Hercules Powder Company, Toxaphene was a synthetic organic insecticide toxicant primarily used in agricultural insecticides.

Formed in 1912 as part of an anti-trust settlement with DuPont, the Hercules Powder Company (later Hercules Inc.) initially specialized in the manufacture of explosives and smokeless powders and subsequently diversified its business to encompass a variety of industrial products, including pine and paper chemicals, synthetics, pigments, polymers, and cellulose.