Ads Taking Away the Purity

[AirColorado]

Long flights at 40,000 feet tend to allow my mind to wander. On a recent flight I was thinking about the real garbage food that some carriers serve (what they sell if you're in cattle class) and how many of us are happy to get it after a few hours in the air. United and American serve real garbage and Frontier serves relatively healthy stuff IMO. I wondered about the crap we eagerly pay for these days that passes for nutrition and how the ad industry brought us here. Somehow my twisted mind then shifted over to thinking about straight razor shaving, the purity of how we go about it all, and the adulteration of that clean process by the advertising industry at the dawn of disposable razors.

It seems to me that we all approach this process with an almost fanatical purity and only use blades, soaps, oils, and balms that have intrinsic worth and value. Once the ad goons descended upon our pure experience the monstrosity of concepts that fell upon our numbers was incredible. Right now (as 100 years ago) a good hot water prep, some good pre-shave oil or balm, a mostly pure shaving soap or cream, and some aftershave or balm after the shave is about the extent of our daily routine. No electric anything, no trips to buy cartridges every few weeks, no cans of compressed cream, and so electric shaver face prep liquid (whatever that is).

I can't help but wonder how the ad industry went about changing that pure experience to make us think that a tiny sliver of metal in a plastic holder was a "must have" in every shaving arsenal - and the only thing to have in it. I guess the disposable multiple blade cartridge was a novelty back then and did allow some time savings. Guys after WW2 went en masse from using straights to double edges and disposables. That trend continues to this day and I suspect it really only benefits the razor manufacturers themselves.

I remember from an advertising class in college that the entire goal of a good ad campaign is to change the buying habits of people as a result of manipulating some emotion in them. That change in emotion is equally acceptable regardless if the information provided is false or even destructive. The only goal is to get people to buy the product, to feel good about it, and to change their perceptions in a way that makes them see other alternatives as undesirable. The ad companies are not the real culprit but the companies that hire them. In this instance the only harm was to the purity of the shaving experience but I have to believe that should our numbers grow to the point where the bottom line of Gillette and others start to hurt, straight razor shaving could come under fire in ads. I was wondering what that might look like. I mean assume that a few hundred million guys decide to abandon the tiny foils in plastic holders in favor of good 1/4 grind steel, what would those companies do, and what would the ads start to look like?

Just my restless mind jumping out in time to consider what we might see in the future if we're successful and convert a large chunk of the population back to the best form of shaving.

[aragornelessar86]

Well for starters I hope we don't convert millions because then vintage blades on Ebay will be really bloody expensive.

But seriously, I expect the primary ad campaign would be regarding safety. Some sort of BS about how you'll kill yourself with a straight, etc. Possibly something about health concerns of using the same blade over and over again.

[hoglahoo]

I think there's a legitimate marketability of the safety advantage of cartridges and electrics over straights and double edged razors.

You can drop a cartridge razor in the sink, on your foot, anywhere and it will be fine. You can't cut yourself replacing the cartridge - if you drop the cartridge it will not cut you. You can be very sloppy with the cartridge and still get an easily presentable shave. You don't have to worry that your kids will find your straights or double edged blades and seriously injure themselves

Cartridges seem like a good fit for those who just want to shave and get on with their day without having to learn the skill of shaving or take their time and concentration on working with more unforgiving tools

I've never tried an electric, but I have a buddy who claims that he shaves in the car on his way to work

[thebigspendur]

We are not the typical buying public as far as razors go. The fact is when Mr Gillette came out with his razor and blades he didn't have to twist people's arms to switch. Most gladly did it and never looked back. They got a fast, safe, good shave and didn't have to worry about honing and stropping and blade maint. Most contempory folks consider us crazy. Who is the joke on?

[AussiePostie]

All the marketing today seems to be aimed at making your life seem easier and saving time.Trouble is most people I know do not know what to do with this "saved time" and are constantly moaning about how there bored!
There is no such thing as wasted time.So it takes 15 minutes to shave instead of 5 minutes,I,m not throwing away pressure pack cans and plastic.So I spend 10 minutes hand washing dishes, saves water and power.So I spend 5 minutes lighting the wood stove,I get hot water,heating and a bloody good roast dinner all from a totally renewable resource. So I spend 5 minutes getting dressed to go some where on my little motorbike,35 kilometres to the litre and hell of a lot less pollution.

So my "wasted time" of approximatly 45 minutes a day benifits the enviroment not to mention my wallet.
PS. Cutting firewood I class as excercise.
Shaving I class as meditation.

[Seraphim]

I don't know.....



Every ad I see in the classifieds section of this forum whips me into a buying frenzy. Those damned straight razor marketing types!

[ChrisL]

Sacrificing quality for convenience. I think hyping convenience has been the jackpot ticket for companies and advertisers since the industrial revolution. Granted, many advances offer both quality and convenience, but if straights ever did gain enough share to threaten the shaving market, I'd picture one of those totally cheesy infomercial type commercials:

Announcer: "Tired of cutting arteries and fingers with those dangerous straight razors?"

Show a man nodding as he holds up a bloody stump of an index finger

Announcer: "Are you worried about lock jaw from cutting yourself with those rusty vintage razors?"

Show a man nodding as he eats his lunch through a straw

Announcer: "Are you worried that shaving with straight razors will be the death of you?"

Show a man clutching the side of his neck with that fake blood squirting around his bathroom

Announcer: "I mean, get real. Get the Manly5000. Safe, easy and oh so close.

Show a throng of women whimpering in line to touch the man's face, then moaning after touching it.

Heck, I think I'm in the wrong line of work. Does anyone know of any ad agencies that are hiring?

Chris L

[ndw76]

I think the advertising to poo poo straight razors would come in the form of a viral ad campaigne. There would be some unsubstanciated story about some poor soul who accidentally cut their own throat while trying to shave. All they would have to do is get such a story to circulate as an urban myth and the job would be done.

[MisterLewisR]

Some may consider the transition from straights and DE's to cartridges a harmless societal change. However, it is but one instance of a trend I see everywhere I look: the tendency of the American economy to promote haste and waste at the expense of health (physical, emotional, and for the ecosystem) and skill under the guise of convenience and desirability.

We live in a wrecking-ball of a society. I wonder when people will realize that the atmosphere is more important than saving fifty cents at Wal-Mart...

Visiting any public place is an assault on my senses. Over-stimulation and gross abuse in advertising has driven me to resent music, cinematography, and art, things I once enjoyed deeply. But there are still uncorrupted corners of life, like typewriting a letter to a friend, or shaving with a straight razor, to cheer me up. Sometimes you just have to go against the grain to get what you want.

I hate to post such a bummer, but you brought it up. :P

[ChrisL]

Some may consider the transition from straights and DE's to cartridges a harmless societal change. However, it is but one instance of a trend I see everywhere I look: the tendency of the American economy to promote haste and waste at the expense of health (physical, emotional, and for the ecosystem) and skill under the guise of convenience and desirability.

We live in a wrecking-ball of a society. I wonder when people will realize that the atmosphere is more important than saving fifty cents at Wal-Mart...

Visiting any public place is an assault on my senses. Over-stimulation and gross abuse in advertising has driven me to resent music, cinematography, and art, things I once enjoyed deeply. But there are still uncorrupted corners of life, like typewriting a letter to a friend, or shaving with a straight razor, to cheer me up. Sometimes you just have to go against the grain to get what you want.

I hate to post such a bummer, but you brought it up. :P

I agree with what you've said completely.

Chris L