If it's this good on my duck, think how good it'll be on my dishes!
August 29, 2002 6:34 PM   Subscribe

If it's this good on my duck, think how good it'll be on my dishes! I saw the commercial and was forced to ask "Is this for real?" (it seems to work on dead ducks). Is it me, or is this the strangest line of logic in consumerism ever seen.
posted by NGnerd (14 comments total)
 
Best link about washing ducks in detergent ever.
posted by Joey Michaels at 6:39 PM on August 29, 2002


Anybody else misread "duck" as... you know... and was sorely dissapointed?
posted by Stan Chin at 6:49 PM on August 29, 2002


I use dawn myself, but not like this: Wash the skin in dawn gently, but thoroughly, then rinse...Do not soak the skin. After the second rinse, I toss my skins into the washing machine and run the spin dry cycle...
brrrrrrrrrrrrr.....(silence of the lambs memories)

but good if they're donating $$ to help ducks (live ones at least)--50,000 seems a bit low though considering their annual sales.
posted by amberglow at 6:54 PM on August 29, 2002


I have actually been using Dawn since a few months after the Exxon Valdez accident in 1989. In an article about the clean-up efforts, a wildlife worker was asked what they were using to get the oil off the birds without harming them. He said that they'd tried everything and Dawn worked the best. And yes, the next time I bought dishwashing liquid, it was Dawn.

I'm middle-left on ecology. I don't like fur coats, but leather is fine. Call me a hypocrite, but mama don't take my Dawn detergent away.?
posted by swerve at 7:42 PM on August 29, 2002


From the site: Bubble Magic
Can a bowl full of soapy water feel hot and cold at the same time? Roll up your sleeves and find out!
*Squirt a small amount of Dawn® dishwashing liquid into the bottom of three bowls.
*Fill one bowl with cold water, another with lukewarm water, and a third with hot water. (Make sure the water isn't too hot or you'll burn your hands!)
*Place one hand in the bowl full of hot soapy water and the other in the bowl full of cold soapy water. Soak your hands for a minute or two and then plunge them both into the bowl full of lukewarm soapy water. You'll find that the lukewarm soapy water will feel hot to one hand and cold to the other!


I'm not sure I get the significance of the Dawn® in that little experiment. Would the results be different if I substituted a little Bosco®?
posted by HTuttle at 7:53 PM on August 29, 2002


When I saw that ad I thought, great now I know how to keep my ducks clean!
posted by birdherder at 8:16 PM on August 29, 2002


I have no idea what it is about Dawn that makes it so special, but for some reason it's the detergent of choice for more than just ecologists with a few greasy ducks to clean. One high-end car polish manufacturer swears that a "Dawn wash" in the prep stage will cleanly strip off any old polish (item 3), loosen most environmental particles adhering to the finish, and ensure proper application of his product.

On a side note, I tried his stuff. It really works well, but I kicked the habit just a few coats shy of drinking the glossy Kool-Aid.
posted by alas at 10:11 PM on August 29, 2002


When I saw the ad, I felt bad for the duck!

Honestly, it annoyed me. This Dawn ad falls into the same category as the recent one by Phillip Morris on how they donate food to refugees in Bosnia. I had no problem with what they were trying to tell us about their efforts to Make Things Better(tm) - rather, I was troubled by the fine print on both that said, "Dramatization."

To sell how they helped the little guy, Phillip Morris must have spent thousands on a fake refugee camp filled with fake refugees (and on the helicopter and the...) - conceivably more than they donated to the cause in question.

Now, Dawn covers a duck in oil to show how well their product can get it off?

Seems a little off to me. But then again, I'm a little off.
posted by pzarquon at 2:33 AM on August 30, 2002


I remember a few years back the great San Francisco science museum, The Exlploratorium, used Dawn in it's bubble formula. But now they use Joy.

I use Dr. Bronner's Almond Soap for my dishes. It washes my apples and tomatoes as well. If I had to wash a duck I'd try Dr. B's first. All one. Dilute, Dilute.
posted by gametone at 2:39 AM on August 30, 2002


Paging hob.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 3:40 AM on August 30, 2002


Note: Only the Bue Dawn has the amazing qualities. Other versions of Dawn don't work as well as Blue Dawn.
posted by rich at 6:53 AM on August 30, 2002


I don't think it's that strange that they're doing this, although I am curious how it came about, especially given the lack of oil spills in the news (even though there are plenty of small ones). Surely the idea to connect it to school fundraising is what makes it work -- other than just being that website, of course. I wonder if there was a regional program prior to this, or something else in duck/oil-spill country, wherever that is?
posted by dhartung at 7:59 AM on August 30, 2002


Just for the record, a friend who works in in construction showed me how to use blue Dawn for oil spots on concrete--pour it on full strength, brush it in with an old broom and then hose it off. It works better than the so-called degreasers.
posted by y2karl at 8:08 AM on August 30, 2002


According to an old NYT Magazine endpage, petro companies use Joy to hide their minor oil "leaks."

As they say, "Don't forget to spread some Joy."
posted by Ptrin at 10:13 PM on August 30, 2002


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