Description: A toilet paper holder that extends your reach
Main Pitch: "The first improvement in toilet paper as we know it since the 1880s"
Main Offer: $19.99 for one
Bonus: "Get A Grip" suction handle
Marketer: Telebrands
Producer: Unknown
Website: www.ComfortWipe.com
Product (D7) Score: 5 out of 7
Commercial Rating: Good
There's been so much buzz about this commercial in the industry, I had to post it for my readers. (Let's just say it's the "butt" of a lot of jokes.) While I'm at it, here's my opinion ...
Last week, I shared an important truth about DRTV:
You have to respect the genre. It's too easy to take "DR humor" too far and turn your commercial into an SNL skit. I've seen it happen several times, and the result is always the same. You get a lot of calls, but very few of them end in a sale.
This is a case where the genre was taken seriously (Telebrands does not mess around), but the end result will still be the "SNL skit" problem.
Not that the commercial isn't well produced. I gave it a "good" rating for a reason. Considering what they had to work with, the production company did an excellent job. They took the product seriously, shot it beautifully and avoided making a bad situation worse with toilet humor or too much "DR cheese."
No, the only problem here is that this is not a mass-market item. It's only for the elderly and infirm. That means the majority of people who watch this commercial will respond to it like this. Instead of the impulse to buy, they will feel the impulse to laugh. So while this may be a strong seller in certain catalogs for the elderly (along with incontinence pants), it is not right for DRTV.
