A Tail Tale
In North American TV and print ads, the Charmin toilet paper company now uses a family of anthropomorphic bears, each of whom dances around merrily because he or she’s so happy with a bathroom experience. The unintentionally Freudian tagline is “Enjoy the Go!” - at least I think it’s unintentional. Blue bears represent the ultra soft tissue, while red ones hawk the ultra strong products. One of the top 100 TV ads of the 20th Century featured the long-suffering supermarket manager, George Whipple, who admonished shoppers not to squeeze the Charmin, the idea being it was so soft, you just had to feel it in the packaging. It brings to mind the famous quote from Raymond Chandler that chess is as elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you can find outside an advertising agency. Toilet paper isn’t new and nor are the marketing campaigns to support it. Here’s the story and I hope you enjoy the go.