I watched the Super Bowl tonight, just like I do every year, and I must say that I wasn't impressed. The game was good, don't get me wrong, and even though I loath and despise Denver and Payton Manning (just never liked the guy, quite possibly just because he's Eli's brother,) I enjoyed watching the game itself (even the stupid, thoughtless errors on both sides and the blind refs we've all come to love to watch.) It was the advertisements that pissed me off. Most were OK, some were even funny (I miss the good old days of hilarious Super Bowl ads.) but this year it was Colgate that really pissed me off.
This #EveryDropCounts shit just... I don't know, it just blew my mind. Take a look here for my source that this year each thirty second advertisement spot in the Super Bowl cost five million dollars ($5,000,000.)
Now sure, I may be a little more pissed off about his ad than I really should be, but it disgusts me when these huge companies with all this money to just blow try to build this appearance that they're all about a better world. Please. Take that five million dollars you just blew, don't make that ad, and drop the cost of your overpriced, run-of-the-mill, par product. Better yet, get in touch with Wal-Mart and buy 5,681,8181 gallons of water to send to US poverty stricken areas, or overseas, where I assume you were hinting at, faces these water shortages all the time. I'll bet Wal-Mart would even cut you one hell of a deal (would be worth it for the PR alone,) and instead of the $0.88 retail they charge on the shelves, you'd probably pick it up for around $0.50-$0.60 per unit.
Or even better, invest in a bit of research (entirely philanthropically of course,) into devices like the one seen here that actually pull fresh water as clean as the air around it into a vessel to be consumed as needed. Hints of larger scaled and stationary units in design.
Now to the root of my anger. My wasteful ways which bother you so are just that; mine. When I leave my water running, wasting those four gallons of water as I brush, one of two things happens depending on where I (and I'm sure the gentleman shown in your ad in his very modern and finished looking bathroom,) live.
This first option is my water bill goes up. Now when this happens it simply means that I have to pay more on my water bill that month. The water then returns to the city's system, finds its way to whatever water purification system the city uses, then heads back out to another faucet to repeat this process. The water isn't taken from the lips of the less fortunate. It's not 'wasted' in such the sense this advertisement tries to portray. It's wasted money. My money.
On to option number two. The water is drawn from a private well. Now when this happens, it doesn't even increase a bill as there is no bill to increase upon. It simply comes up, out the faucet, down the drain, then back out to nature through the septic system (there is a separate system in many cases, I believe, for tap/bathwater rather from that flushed down a toilet, but this is not my point nor area of expertise.)
Again, this cycle has no direct impact on the systems that govern those around the globe. I can run water on my well day in and day out and the only thing that will happen is it'll turn a brown sludgy mess then stop coming for a while and I'll have to wait for a good rain or two until I get a good reserve built up again.
I guess my biggest qualm about this ridiculous ad is it is calling me wasteful while wasting a sum of money that would set my family (and this is probably true for most of you as well,) for life and then some. It would also do great in a real cause like cleaning up water supplies around the world. Colgate's only real problem with this idea of mine, I'm sure, is no one would hear about it. No one would praise Colgate and pat them on their back for their wonderful message and bla, bla, bla. Well, maybe if they just went ahead and took my advice instead of being wasteful attention whores, we'd hear about it in passing. You know "So, did you know that Colgate ships over five million dollars worth of water to third world countries every year?" and then you'd say, "No, I didn't, that's pretty neat. I've got to Tweet that... hm... HashtagColgateRocks."
OK, I'm done bitching for the evening. Let me know your thoughts on this ridiculousness.
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