Bow to the Man

You know those Swiffer products that are EVERYWHERE now? They're great. I really got sold on Swiffer early on. They're handy and easy. I like the ability to clean quickly without pulling out a bunch of clunky cleaning supplies. Maybe it's the XY in me. Whatever the case, I like their stuff.

But you know what? They're more genius then I ever realized. What led me to this conclusion? It was a current ad they have for a new, beefed up Swiffer Wet Jet. It's supposed to get rid of this and that and so on. So what's so brilliant about this? I'll tell you.

Consider that there was a time a decade ago that every home contained an old fashioned mop, a cleaning bucket, Mr. Clean or Pinesol, or something like it. These were the standards of cleaning. Use a nasty mop, get on your knees and scrub the floor, this was what it meant to clean. It was not a glorious job and it certainly took a lot of time to do. Having worked with two years with a mop in my hand, I can tell you that they're horrible tools that don't do anything to make you look like a good cleaner.

But then, Swiffer showed up the on the scene. It started with this little cling on the end of a very light-weight stick. The cling, we were told, could get everything up with a couple of trips around the floor. We loved it! And that cling did indeed, work. I was shocked to find how much that little thin piece of material could do. We believed the ads, no more mopping and no more down on your hands and knees cleaning. The floor didn't need to be such a chore.

Then something slipped in that should have set flags waving but it didn't. Swiffer Wet made an appearance a mere year later. Now we were told that it could get some of the deep grime off of floors that regular Swiffer couldn't. And they were right. Run a Swiffer and then a Swiffer Wet afterwards and the results were truly awesome. Look at all that dirt! How did we live without Swiffer Wet? Thank you Swiffer company for introducing us to a wet-solution based way of cleaning! And the masses where happy.

But now, we're being told that simple wet Swiffers aren't enough either. Now, we need a machine that sprays a solution along with the Swiffer Wet pad. And this one gets off dried gunk fried at 200 degrees! Wow! But wait, isn't this a lot like a mop? And now we have a solution that we have to buy and use? I'm not so sure about this. It seems to go against the whole Swiffer ideal. I mean, will there be a Swiffer mop and bucket to come out in a few years? And a Swiffer cleaning formula with Swiffer Sponge? You mean that Swiffer brilliantly deconstructed all of my concepts about cleaning just in order to steal me away from other products, only to re-build my concepts in the image of Swiffer? Was this all just an elaborate marketing concept to steal me away and make me a loyal Swiffer customer? I don't know yet, but I do know one thing. I'll write more later, I have to go pick up the newest Swiffer Wet Jet.