Quack Quack!

January 13, 2003 8:56 PM

Buy some dish soap, save wildlife! Dawn dish soap's new campaign shows images of a duck (simulated?) covered in oil like something out of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, followed by images of workers washing the duck's feathers with Dawn soap, and testifying how they only use Dawn for this process. Interesting thought process, but is it too far from the point for the average shopper? (saveaduck.com is the original URL)
posted by djspicerack (18 comments total)

And, what, exactly, is Dawn made out of, what is the source of those ingredients, and do they do animal testing?

I have a feeling that the answers to those questions will more than cancel out any efforts to please PETAites...

Not to mention how effective Dawn is in killing animals.
posted by shepd at 9:13 PM on January 13, 2003

Dawn is made by Procter & Gamble, which apparently kills other kinds of cute animals. What a bunch of PR bullshit.
posted by gwint at 9:23 PM on January 13, 2003

i saw that commercial some time ago while in a semi-nap state.

my first thought was, gee that's nice they can clean ducks with soap.

my second thought was, wtf does that have to do with doing dishes? i mean i'll reach to dawn when my duck gets oil on it, but what can clean these baked on stains? i'm sticking with lemon fresh joy.
posted by birdherder at 9:25 PM on January 13, 2003

shepd beat me to the same point. Procter & Gamble has long been on the top of PETA's list of worst offenders in the animal-testing front, and even though I disagree with virtually every other one of PETA's ridiculous PR belches they'd be quite accurate in pointing out the hypocrisy of this.

That said, this reminds me of those old BubbleThing toys from about ten years ago- the manual for the thing specifically stated you needed to use Joy or Dawn (both P&G products, hence likely a similar formula, and for that matter no profit loss for P&G, birdherder) because the chemicals made suitable bubbles. The reason had something to do with its chemical ability to- ta-dah- repel oil.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 9:28 PM on January 13, 2003

I'm afraid I must respectfully disagree with the other posters on this thread that this is hypocritical. Desiring to save wildlife damaged by oil spills and injuring/killing domestically bred animals to test products are not actually contradictory. One is a committment to helping save wildlife and the environment, while the other involves killing animals bred for the sole purpose of being used in these experiments. That said, I agree with PETA and the other posters on this thread that it is inhumane in this day and age to use animals for the sort of tests P&G does on them now that alternatives are available.
posted by Pseudoephedrine at 9:43 PM on January 13, 2003

Double post.
posted by ttrendel at 10:05 PM on January 13, 2003

P&G has convinced me! I'm off to sink an oil tanker tonight, so that I can put Dawn to good use saving the ducks!
posted by five fresh fish at 10:17 PM on January 13, 2003

>I'm off to sink an oil tanker tonight

Naw, why should you take all the risk and blame.

Just liquor-up your local provincial leader and let him captain the tanker...

toot toot.

(of course, our *cough* other great western political leader offered his *hic* support today as well, what is it with western canada and drunken politicians?)
posted by jkaczor at 11:56 PM on January 13, 2003

1: I've read this here before.
2: Dawn is great for dishes OR oiled up ducks.
3: Reading some of the responses, It seemed like I was reading FARK.
posted by Eyegore at 1:38 AM on January 14, 2003

thanks ttrendel - i searched and searched but it never came up.... my bad!
posted by djspicerack at 2:09 PM on January 14, 2003

You're soaking in it! o<
posted by staggernation at 2:14 PM on January 14, 2003

I remember, as a student intern at the Department of Fish & Game's OSPR (Oil Spill Prevention & Response) unit in Sacramento, CA, one particular assignment I had: videotaping wardens and volunteers learning how to clean various waterfowl and other animals (they practiced on refrigerated corpses). One of the products that was used was common dishsoap - don't remember the brand. Apparently many industrial cleaners cut the oil just fine but also remove the natural oils that protect the bird and its feathers, or else damage the feather follicles permanently.
posted by luriete at 2:24 PM on January 14, 2003

Many pests can be picked off plants, sprayed off with a hose, or killed using simple things like beer, salt, or dish soap
posted by thomcatspike at 3:00 PM on January 14, 2003

thanks ttendrel, being the guy who posted the first time i didn't want to be a jerk in saying it's a double, i haven't seen this commercial in a few months (maybe it's a regional one) but i still think it's one hell of a stretch. did anyone ever find out if emergency workers at oil spills actually use this stuff?
posted by NGnerd at 3:05 PM on January 14, 2003

I used to use Dawn on my ducks, now I use a mixture of vinegar, water, and Murphy's.

Still use Dawn on my yak, though.
posted by Ty Webb at 3:09 PM on January 14, 2003

Those ducks are simply *adorable*! I'm a sucker for ducks, geese, chickens, etc. Who cares about Dawn's attempt at "green-friendly" advertising? I'm not going to use Dawn solely because of this ad. I just want to see more ducks in commercials.
posted by davidmsc at 6:31 PM on January 14, 2003

4 out of 5 ducks surveyed prefer Dawn to Ivory Liquid for their crude washing needs.


On a related note, I was enthralled by the News 12 Coverage of the rescuse of the duck stuck in the frozen pond.
posted by ParisParamus at 6:37 PM on January 14, 2003

Did anyone else notice that the words simulated demonstration appear at the bottom of the screen? My first thought was that they had to first cover the duck in the oil (-like substance ?), before they could start to clean the poor thing off.
posted by wintereclipse at 5:34 AM on January 15, 2003