Toilet Paper and Politics

My daughter is mad at me about toilet paper. You see, two shopping trips ago, I found myself wandering down that paper products aisle I normally avoid because we were nearly out of tissue for the loo. Normally I buy Majesta, cause I'm not pansy enough to think that my lily-white ass needs "quilting" or "cashmere" softness or any other such nonsense. This time however, I found myself whistling that damn catchy jingle about 'less is more' from the Charmin commercials.

This appeals to me on two levels: less is more implies less paper product wasted, and more trees living happy longer lives; and I like to reward fine marketing work such as jingles that really stick (this is the reason I was a Casino Taxi girl for years). So I consciously chose to buy that brand, based on those reasons, plus the fact that the package came with a bonus "roll hanging extender" to help the extra large rolls fit on your regular TP dispenser.

So why is she mad? The rolls don't fit. The extender doesn't work. When the roll is new it is roughly the size of a hay bale and it just doesn't turn without tearing off the one small square you're holding. And while I don't believe in excess waste, anyone can tell you a square ain't enough. The protest in my bathroom has appeared in the form of the roll consistly being on the floor now, not on the wall. And Maddie growled at me once during a middle-of-the-night pee run.

What's the connection to Paul Martin's Liberals, you ask? Well, I give you a moment to make your own punchline here... ... but the connection is effective marketing. I've become addicted to Scott Feschuk's blog and am actually considering voting Liberal, despite having been an NDP all my life, solely on the basis of the party with the best sense of humour wins. Is it any less valid than their stand on gun control? It's more relevant to me!! And the NDP don't even HAVE a blog, that I can find (ok, we do have Rabble and that's something). Will marketing win out? Or sanity and reason? God help me if the Libs get a catchy jingle.