Do you get those little coupon books Target will send out in the mail from time to time? You know, the ones that you can separate the perforations and mix and match people's faces (Oh, she's Asian! Oh, she's Caucasian! Oh she's got facial hair!) This time around you can mix and match people's shopping carts (Oh, she's got cookies and milk! Oh, she's got milk and tennis shoes! Oh, she's got half a box of trash bags, and half a kid! Oh, wait, this isn't right? What's going on here...) Whoever designed this one didn't test it out very well, cause it doesn't work too great. But hey, who cares! It's the coupons we're after! And I've always thought, every time I'd get one of those booklets - "I wish method would have a coupon in here!" and they never have (to my knowledge, maybe one for their o-mop, like a zillion years ago. So let's ignore that one, ok? It didn't happen.)... until now!
I opened my new coupon booklet I got last week, and sure enough, there was a method coupon! I was shocked! $1.00 off dish soap or spray cleaner! Yay!
Now, Target will do method price breaks lots of times (in fact they just had one!) And I used to post them each and every time, but it's just .50 cents off most items, and while .50 cents is .50 cents, it's still sorta just .50 cents. So I haven't mentioned Target's sales as of late. But with this coupon, it's like .50 cents + .50 cents = $1.00! Wow! That's not really that much more of a difference, is it?! Well, so what! It's my blog and I can post about whatever I want! And if $1.00 means more to me than .50 cents, that's how it's gonna be! Ok? Good. Glad we got that one out of the way.
If you don't currently get Target's coupon book, head on over to their website and sign up. Then you'll be on their mailing list, and the next time method has a coupon in their booklet, you'll have it too! But then, that was pretty obvious, now wasn't it...
An interesting look into Clorox and GreenWorks via Fortune magazine (and website, along with CNN Money.) And method gets a shout-out, and some quick screen time.
"Customers expect color and scent in their products" was mentioned, when synthetic items were discussed. My thoughts are a) I don't personally think color is necessary. method has done a great job in the past with colored bottles taking the place of colored products, and I think that works well. (In fact I've always been curious why method hasn't taken all of their products in this direction.) Most of method's holiday hand wash line within the past three years or so has consisted of clear hand wash, in a colored bottle; compared to the "everyday" hand wash they product, which is colored hand wash in a clear bottle. Why not just colored bottles all the way? And b) scents are always going to be requested (IMHO) but why do they have to be synthetic? Points to ponder.
What do you think of the video? What about Sierra Club's partnership with Clorox? Tell it!
...No, they're not actually selling honest to goodness babies! But rather, baby cleaning products! Right now, until June 29th, you can receive $5.00 off any $20.00 method purchases at your local Babies and Toys R' Us stores! (It's almost like getting one method item for free!)
Babies R' Us carries a nice range of method products, too! From dish soap to cleaning spray, laundry detergent, hand wash, and method's new baby/kids line (including the play clean spray cleaner, tiny hands hand wash, and the sweet pea laundry detergent!)
And if you're really on top of things (expires June 17th), you can use this coupon and get $3.00 off method laundry detergent! (I'm not sure if you can combine these two offers, it might be a one or the other deal. - But you could always try!)
method has just posted this adorable little story about mandarin mango hand wash:
"once upon a time there was a young hand wash named mandarin mango. she moved to a quaint neighborhood called Target.
there were many other hand washes that lived in her neighborhood. there was the ever popular cucumber (total jock), french lavender (nice elderly type), sweet water (studious professor), grapefruit (school teacher) and sea minerals (free-spirited hippie). they had all lived in Target for some time and had become rather close friends. they were very different but often got together for small dinner parties and book clubs.
mandarin mango was significantly younger than all the other hand washes. some might even call her immature. she came into the neighborhood with a bang, wearing a sassy “guest star” logo printed on her bright orange bottle. all the other hand washes were very skeptical about what made mandarin mango so darn special, and she had no trouble informing them.
“like…i was born to be a star! people can see it from aisles away. omg lil’ bowl blu is soooo hot!” this didn’t go over too well with the other hand washes in the neighborhood. but they were told not to sweat it because she was a limited edition and would only be around for 9 months tops.
weeks went by, and mandarin mango was correct - she was a star! ‘people against dirty’ came from near and far to check out the newest addition to the hand wash family.
the whole gang was starting to get used to the young and spunky mandarin mango..."
Recently over on method's Facebook page, an advocate posted the following:
"I've been using Method now for over a year and I love, love, love your products. But I must say - you need to re-think your dish detergent bottle. When your hands are wet - it's hard to hold on too. I've dropped that bottle [thank god it's plastic] so many times. I got tired and switched to Greenworks. If you remake the bottle I would gladly switch back..."
to which method replied:
"Hey carolyn, we hear you loud and clear. keep you eyes open come fall, we think you'll be pleasantly surprised!"
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Sounds like we're getting a new dish soap bottle! (In fact, while it's all extremely vague at the moment, I believe this fall we'll be getting more than just a new dish soap bottle for the kitchen! Tease, tease.)
What do you think? Like the current bottle, have the same issues? Some people have suggested taking the new laundry "lighthouse" bottle, and using that design for the dish soap. What do you think? I mean, sure, I've dropped the bottle a time or two, but it really hasn't bothered me as much as it seems to do other method users. What's your experience?
These make me so angry, I can't even express it without placing an R rating on method lust. And we all know R ratings are dirty (in the words of a certain brand we all know and love!) Seriously, these. make. me. so. angry. - It's a complete waste. I'm so disgusted at this point with the Big Brands uncanny ability to make anything look disgusting in order to sell their products for "healthy living." (To which it actually creates the opposite.)
"The other day I was reading a magazine and came across an advertisement for new Kleenex disposable hand towels. After I got over the initial disgust, I decided to check them out and see what Kleenex has to say about them. On their website, they state that “your hands are only as clean as the towel used to clean them.” “A clean, fresh towel every time.” Come on! If you’re really that scared of germs, you need more than disposable hand towels.
Here are the problems I have with disposable hand towels:
+ They consume more resources + They create more waste + They teach people (and children) that disposable is better + They are pointless
It just sickens me to think that a huge corporation like Kleenex would produce and market a product like this. With all the natural resources being consumed, the last thing we need is another disposable product, especially one that is pretty much useless and replaces something that has worked well for so many years."
"A clean, fresh towel every time. It sounds nice but it's a bit of a nightmare in reality.
Kleenex is trying to market the idea that we should now be using one-use disposable (Kleenex brand) hand towels instead of the cotton reusable hand towels found in most homes.
I'm a pragmatic greenie, I've been known to use a paper towel every now and then, but this is just too much. Does everything in our lives need to be disposable?
If you're in the marketing department of companies like Kleenex the answer is very much "yes".
I agree with my buddy David over at Green for Good who called this one out for the eco-dud that it is. He wrote:
In the hand drying facts on their Web site, Kleenex tries to scare us into believing that “regular washing of cloth hand towels does not ensure cleanliness.”
Wow, we should really start wearing disposable clothes if that's true.
To make matters worse, the geniuses at Kimberly-Clark have chosen Earth Month to launch a major television ad push for Kleenex hand towels. Of course, they depict normal hand towels as disgustingly as possible by showing everyone, even the family dog, getting their dirty mitts all over them.
And how cute is this? Kleenex has penned an educational Drying Song to teach your kids how to be wasteful too. Because “no yucky old towel’s gonna ruin my day.”
Sorry Kleenex, but it’s our Earth Day that you’re ruining. Sigh.
Here's the lyrics for their Hand Washing Song:
My hands are gonna be clean When I wash and I dry with mommy and sing This song that's exactly two clean hands long Warm water and soap and bubbles that shine A Kleenex® Hand Towel that's mine all mine And a song that's exactly two clean hands long No yucky old towel's gonna ruin my day I dry my hands the Kleenex® towel way So if you're a fan of clean hands too Roll up your sleeves and I'll sing with you.
I'm going to point this to my two young daughters for the shady marketing-to-kids that it is. I mean, come on - do we really want to train our children to desire a one-use throw-away hand towel?"
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It's time we stopped showing the next generation that disposal is ok. Cause it ain't, ok?
And yes, Colgate Wisp, I'm talking to you, too.
Get some gum already, girl. Geesh.
All of you, you make me sick. Get out of my face. The article above is right on the money. It's time Big Brand became responsible for their actions, and what they produce. I'm completely over the whole "we just make what people want." Cause trust me, as time has gone by I've learned something profound. What people (usually) want, is not what people (usually) need. Well, at least when it comes to convenience products. People will be lazy, until you make them be otherwise. (In Nathan's humble opinion.)
Do you get those little coupon books Target will send out in the mail from time to time? You know, the ones that you can separate the perforations and mix and match people's faces (Oh, she's Asian! Oh, she's Caucasian! Oh she's got facial hair!) This time around you can mix and match people's shopping carts (Oh, she's got cookies and milk! Oh, she's got milk and tennis shoes! Oh, she's got half a box of trash bags, and half a kid! Oh, wait, this isn't right? What's going on here...) Whoever designed this one didn't test it out very well, cause it doesn't work too great. But hey, who cares! It's the coupons we're after! And I've always thought, every time I'd get one of those booklets - "I wish method would have a coupon in here!" and they never have (to my knowledge, maybe one for their o-mop, like a zillion years ago. So let's ignore that one, ok? It didn't happen.)... until now!
