commercials

[rone]

OK, so how much money do the phone companies make on collect calling? The enraging inanity of Carrot Top and Alf aside, are the ridiculous magnitude and frequency of ads we see justified by the profit they make?

Another item that's all over TV and the Web: shaving blades. What the fuck? How much money is in the shaving blade industry that they are desperate to top each other with moronic ads of guys in space and alien chicks fondling their faces? Now we have the Schick Quattro, "the world's first four-bladed shaver!" Remember that SNL skit about the shaver with 35 blades or whatever? IT WAS A JOKE, SCHICK. PUT THE QUATTRO DOWN BEFORE YOU HURT SOMEONE. No, i take that back, go ahead and shave your fucking head off! ARGGGGGH.

Comments

[ikkyu2.livejournal.com]

I was very surprised to discover that Gillete (NYSE: G) is capitalized to the tune of $2B. It's a favorite of Warren Buffett's.

[ikkyu2.livejournal.com]

Hm, not only did I misspell Gillette, but actually the market cap is nearer $32B.

So anyway, the answer being A LOT OF MONEY.

[schwa242.livejournal.com]

With the new four-blade shaver, I'm sure that Al Jaffee is chuckling in his grave, even though he isn't dead yet.

-- Schwa ---

[waider.livejournal.com]

There's an apocryphal story that back in the two-blade days, Gillette spent A Large Sum Of Money trying to figure out how to make The Next Big Thing in razors. After six months and said Sum Of Money, they came up with "add another blade".

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

The best satire always comes true. Sometimes twenty or thirty years later.

[ratphooey.livejournal.com]

Assuming that three blades make for a smoother, closer shave than two blades, etc., at what point does the shave become so smooth and close that it can be no smoother/closer?

[huaman.livejournal.com]

I saw some documentary or something on TV once upon a time... I think it might've been that "Connections" show they re-air on the Discovery channel from time to time... anyway, the d00d was talking about the development of disposable stuff, and if I remember it even vaguely correctly, the Gillette guy was friends with the fella who came up with the bottlecap, and he set out, inspired by the bottlecap guy, to come up with his own disposable, mass-market disposable item, and ended up with the safety razor. There was more, dealing with the development of the razor blade and all of that sort of thing, and marketing angles, and minimizing the social importance of the barber shop, and then a bit about how the barber shop had grown out from barber-surgeons who were able to have that line of work in part because of belonging to a guild that controlled the production and distribution of the really sharp small blades of the world, such as surgical tools and razors for shaving.

Relevance to anything here? I dunno. But what the hell, it seemed vaguely apropos somehow.

[glaucon.livejournal.com]

honestly, I find those three blade jobbies absolutely fan-freakin-tastic. they feel great on my face, they leave it stubble-free every time, and the blades last a long time.

on the opposite extreme is my friend rob here in seattle who shaves his head and face every couple days with a straight razor.

[coldsleep.livejournal.com]

Just as a corollary, I'm given to understand that when a shoplifting chain hits a big store like Wal-Mart or Target, they tend to go for high-priced, small items.

Shaving blades and print cartridges, mostly.