In a capitalist economy, one way for an entrepreneur to succeed is by creating an insecurity and offering a product to address it. I’m going to call “need creation” on You Go Girl, sent in by Clare. The marketing for You Go Girl revolves around the “plume” released by your toilet. Beware, it says, while you attempt to flush it your urine is actually rising from the toilet to descend on your toothbrush and your boyfriend’s nostrils.
The commercial suggests that you should use the product both for our health and because we should be embarrassed if someone can tell we’ve urinated. Only women, however, who are stereotyped as being both cleaner and more concerned with hiding bodily functions, are targeted (note the name of the product).
This isn’t the only product aimed at reducing the odor associated with urination. Fresh Drop Bathroom Odor Preventer is another option for those of us worried about our urine clouds, and this one is for men too!
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 32
Matilda — June 17, 2011
I guess the creators of "You Go Girl" didn't consider lowering the toilet lid before flushing. Seems less expensive...
Has anyone actually used this? I'm wondering if it increases the chance of clogging the toilet.
CJ — June 17, 2011
For more fun, read their "What is Plume?" page. My favorite part is where they quote Gandhi.
http://getyougogirl.com/cms.php?task=2
Raven — June 17, 2011
I think everyone should use it. Better yet, have it built into all toilets. :) Just because everyone does a #1 or 2 doesn't mean I wanna smell or hear it...but mostly the former...
maestra — June 17, 2011
You are at your significant other’s boss’s home for dinner. Really got to go, can’t go home now, what to do?
You’re away for the weekend with 16 other women on an incredible retreat with a church group. You normally ‘hold it in’ for the weekend until you get home.
You are at your new girlfriend’s house, with her two girls, 8 and 11 years old. This is not the time, if there is ever a time, to have to make a joke about avoiding the bathroom for a while.
why would ANY of these situations require anything other than "May I use your restroom?" People pee and everyone understands that!
Ty — June 17, 2011
If your urine scent requires some sort of chemical that "creates a protective layer" you need to change your diet....
Missdisco — June 17, 2011
This is not real is it? I have never heard of people anxious about the smell or sound of these things.
DeepThoughts — June 17, 2011
So being discrete means carrying a giant canister of "You Go Girl" into the bathroom with you? Errrr. I think this product might sell if it were something that automatically dispensed itself from within the bowl, like those toilet cleaners that hang on the side. I'm also curious about statistics on whether people actually get sick from "plume".
Ricky — June 17, 2011
What is the deal with all the urine related posts lately? Is Socimages some kind of hub for water sports enthusiasts or something?
Trilly — June 17, 2011
There's this thing called air fresheners, see...and they comes in many scents, and you can get them from the dollar store. For a dollar.
kinelfire — June 17, 2011
There's probably enough people who run the tap to cover the sound of peeing that this product won't just disappear.
I've never understood it though, but I come from a family that never bothered locking the bathroom door. We all do it, nothing to be ashamed of. It's this kind of socially constructed embarrassment that contributes to people suffering ailments (over-active bladder, PCOS, enlarged prostate, etc) for much longer than they have to; the shame is normalised so the sufferer assumes that everyone must be in the same boat because, well, no-one says different. And it's not polite to talk about it, so it... doesn't. The Tena Lady ads that suggest urinary incontinence is a natural part of growing older also annoy me disproportionately.
Will — June 17, 2011
I definitely didn't take away from that advert that it was meant to prevent the sound/smell/sight of urination: I thought it was referring to defecation. Really, who worries about the smell of urine?
Norm — June 17, 2011
I don't understand the plume thing. Why would that happen? The toilet works by raising the water level in the bowel which also raises the level in the trap at the back of the loo. At some point this spills up and over the bend and into the waste pipe. This creates a sipohn effect that pulls the water and contents from in the bowl into the pipe. I don't understand why this would create a noticeable plume. It's not as if the water is being dropped onto the water to force it down o.O?
Amanda — June 17, 2011
I was deeply confused because I thought we were talking about Go Girl (http://www.go-girl.com/) at first, which is actually a pretty helpful product from my experience! But this "You Go Girl" just seems bizarre. Not to mention that when I go to the bathroom, I gotta go, and I don't really want to take the extra time to stop and pour something in the toilet.
Lubin Odana — June 18, 2011
Or you could just open a window.
Daniella — June 18, 2011
I could be wrong on this one, but didn't the same thing happen with Listerine and halitosis? Obviously bad breath has always existed, but in the late 1800s the company medicalized the concept for the sake of marketing mouthwash, making it seem like a much more serious issue than it was and creating that insecurity and that need. Cause, well, bad breath definitely sounds annoying but 'halitosis' sounds much more ominous.
Casey — June 18, 2011
Is it sad that I'd use this just so I don't have to flush as often?
eeka — June 18, 2011
See, in my own bathroom, we always make sure to have candles and matches right out, for family members or anyone who's over to light if they reek up the bathroom. If we're having a party or something we usually just leave it going.
I figure that if someone else doesn't have spray or candles or something in their bathroom, and I reek it up and can't do anything about it, then that's not my fault. If they want their bathroom to not reek, they should have reek eliminators out, because I ain't about to start carrying them around.