I know they’ve been around for years, but since I still see them every fifteen seconds, I feel I must ask… Aren’t the Charmin Toilet Paper bears kind of off-putting? I mean, am I just a prude, or is it unnerving to think about the bowel movements of cuddly cartoon animals?
And will any amount of sprightly music erase my awareness of what’s beneath these tissue squares, matted into Baby Bear’s fur?
In their defense, these ads do challenge our cultural hang-ups about pooping. By treating defecation lightly—and not playing it for gross-out laughs—they may even encourage families to discuss the subject more openly.
And I mean… I guess that’s good. Taboo-busting and what have.  But I don’t know. I’m dubious, and I’ve certainly tangled with adorable toilet paper mascots before.
What do you guys think? What’s the value of using furry creatures to sell t.p.?
15 responses so far ↓
1 Crinklish // Dec 19, 2008 at 11:18 am
They’re creepy! I hate thinking about cartoon poop! (For the record, I also don’t like the talking M&Ms…no anthropomorphized food, sez I.)
2 Molly E // Dec 19, 2008 at 11:22 am
The trouble, to me, is that these bears are not quite animals, yet not quite people. They are civilized enough to find toilet paper and have afternoon games of football, yet not so civilized that they wear clothes. The ad executives only gave them enough personality to make their point. I think it’s that sense of a half-formed identity that is so troubling to me.
As another example, it really bothers me that the Chick-fil-a cows were smart enough to find posterboard and paint and orchestrate an entire smear campaign against chickens, but yet not so smart that they thought to consult a dictionary to spell “chicken” correctly?
3 stripeymeow // Dec 19, 2008 at 2:15 pm
The first time I saw these commercials, I thought, “Oh my god, they’ve created a whole marketing theme around the question ‘Do bears shit in the woods?’…. And evidently they are telling us the answer is yes, and they use Charmin!”
I think it’s a *little* funny, yet somehow… kinda wrong.
4 jmp // Dec 19, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Speaking from the point of view of a marketing person, I don’t really think of it as “taboo-busting” as much as it’s one of the few potentially effective routes they can take. The thing about TP ads is that you don’t really have too many options that aren’t off-putting since the thing itself is inherently a private subject. It’s not a product for which a super-creative award-winningly original campaign is either needed or possible most of the time.
5 Mark Blankenship // Dec 19, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Hilarious, Molly! And so true. Like, would these bears root through a camper’s trash pile after finishing a game of touch football?
6 Glenn // Dec 19, 2008 at 2:49 pm
This is why I love your site, Mark. I too get perplexed every time I see bears wiping themselves.
7 Mark Blankenship // Dec 19, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Point taken, JMP. A more generic commercial wouldn’t make much of an impact, and at the very least, those bears have made a serious impact on me. I certainly know they’re for Charmin.
I guess any product that deals with a private subject is going to invite a little squeamishness–like those “not so freh” Summer’s Eve commercials–yet the products still need to be advertised in some way.
And if one of the things Charmin wants to advertise is the fact that its product doesn’t leave bits of paper behind, using bears is probably less uncomfortable that human beings. You can’t show an adult’s butt on a primetime ad, after all.
Still, the coyness and cuteness of these ads weirds me out. I understand the limitations of the form, but I feel like there has to be a way to communicate “durability” and “softness” without making me think about a fuzzy cub’s bowel movements.
8 Kerrita // Dec 19, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Get this. Apparently, the phrase “does a bear shit in the woods” is the old-fashioned version of “um, duh!” I had no idea! So this whole ad campaign is based on that lovely phrase. And yes, the whole thing is revolting.
9 Kerrita // Dec 19, 2008 at 3:58 pm
oops. sorry, stripeymeow. i see you beat me to the punch.
10 Collin H // Dec 20, 2008 at 11:08 am
Gahgh. I did NOT need to see animated baby bear bottom coated with TP chunks. I shudder to think about what kind of perverts are Tivo’ing that ad.
Oh hey, as long as we’re discussing messed up TP marketing, let’s talk about Angel Soft. You know, the one that puts a picture of an adorable baby on their packaging. I guess what they’re trying to say is that using their product is just like wiping your ass with a adorable newborn babe.
Angel Soft’s website (http://www.anglesoft.com) is pretty great. They have a section about Toilet Tissue Through the Ages. It’s very informative. Did you know that Vikings wiped their ass? I would have thought a culture devoted to raping and pillaging would have been more lax in personal hygiene.
11 Collin H // Dec 20, 2008 at 11:15 am
Oh crap in a hat, that URL should read http://www.angelsoft.com
12 Lou // Jan 6, 2009 at 1:36 pm
This is actually my favorite currently-airing commercial. I think that it’s hillarious to me because it’s so absurd.
I’ve always liked the bears, but this ad in particular is spectacular. I don’t even really associate the whole thing with pooping, but the bear sticking his butt in the other bear’s face while playing football is great.
13 Sholomon // Mar 25, 2009 at 8:59 am
I really don’t think that these Charmin ads have anything whatsoever to do with “breaking down taboos.” These filthy, perverse ads are just another example of how our society has sunk to a new low. 30 years ago, this sort of ad would never have been allowed on television. Now, in our “everything goes” televison culture, where profanity, break up of the family, and sexual mores are showcased, we now have to have our intelligence insulted by having a bunch of idiotic looking bears dance on the TV screen, “comp a squat” behind narrow, little trees, and walk around with bits of feces stained toilet paper stuck to their rumps!
Now, assuming that the average person has an IQ above 100, we all know what toilet paper is used for. So why do we need these little “info-mercials” featuring Yogi Bear and his family showing us how to wipe our backsides. What next? Are they going to start making Kotex and Tampax ads, with beautiful fashon models, showing women how to apply a tampon or sanitary napkin? These ads are not funny. They are just plain wrong
14 P // May 26, 2010 at 11:27 am
“Now, assuming that the average person has an IQ above 100″
Oh, Sholomon…
15 bubba // Dec 5, 2010 at 12:11 pm
I just e-mailed P&G and suggested that they name the big fat bear “Butthole Bear”.
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