Gillette Is Too Sharp For Their Own Good...Kind Of

So in walks the guy who is having problems with his razor....who looks like he just shaved about 30 seconds ago. Wouldn't it have made more sense for him to at least have the 5 o clock shadow?? Then again, why would you want a guy in a commercial for razors to be a visible victim of a shoddy blade?

Herein lies the problem for Gillette: they have a product that's too good. I've been using the Gillette Fusion cartridges for a while now and they literally take forever to become dull and unusable. Granted I'm not anywhere close to "Teen Wolf" status in the facial hair department, but I still shave almost daily and can't see why anyone would go through more than a cartridge a month.

So what is Gillette to do when they realize no one is buying replacement cartridges? They run an ad campaign essentially stating that their product isn't as good as you think it may be! I can't think of another instance of a company doing this. It would be like Penzoil not just saying "change your oil every 3000 miles" but instead having commercials with a car running poorly because the oil hadn't been replaced.

I'd love to know if Gillette has actually sold more cartridges since urging people to replace them. If I were them, I would have definitely considered pointing out instead that the five pack of replacement cartridges will last you over 6 months, because I'm sure plenty of people balk at the 12 or so dollar price tag and reach for the $5 pack of disposals that will last a lot less time. I would give Gillette the benefit of the doubt on this one, but they just showed me a guy who magically shaved despite the fact that his razor was in the shop.