The Soap Lobby is an actual Thing?

And apparently, they want you to be afraid, very afraid, of the dirt and germs lurking in your house THIS VERY MINUTE.

Ok, this is old news. Also, that toilet looked pretty clean to me. What's interesting is that they are doing their best to obscure the effects of triclosan, the chemical in antibacterial soap that's supposed to kill 99.9% (that last .1% is super tricky, apparently) of all germs, despite mounting evidence that it doesn't actually help make you any cleaner and is damaging to the environment. Ok, that's kind of old news too.

Now, what I found really interesting as I did the research, a.k.a. going to the Dial soap website and checking their marketing angle, is that the soap that once touted itself as the "#1 recommended by doctors and hospitals" is now focusing on its...moisturizing properties...huh.

True, it still banks on that old standard, the "clean you can trust," like an old family friend who remembers you from when you were knee-high to a grasshopper. However, even this old, gold friend is changing its tune, touting itself as "Enriched with moisturizer, this refreshingly scented liquid removes dirt and germs and rinses clean" on the product page. In fact, most of the products on the corporate website are focusing on moisturizing and scent. Evidently, no men want to be clean or care about killing bacteria. The picture on the FAQ is a mom with a baby, after all, evidently the only people that use soap. That or Dial is a super progressive company that believes all genders should smell like verbena and olive oil (am I the only one who wants a salad now?).

I like to think that popular opinion and uproar about triclosan have spurred this sudden change in tune. Though, I will note that the company isn't tackling the subject head-on; triclosan isn't even mentioned on their FAQ. Which makes me think that maybe there's something to this whole 'consumer power' thing, causing the soap lobby (the nicest-smelling politicians on Capitol Hill, I'll have you know) to change their strategy, if not their actual product.

UPDATE: Kiera Butler over at MotherJones posted a follow-up to her original article, highlighting some of the lovely rhetoric to come out of the far right. My favorite: "Maybe environmentalists thought women would be too busy to notice the growing regulatory assault on them. They were wrong. Nothing gets women’s attention more quickly than dirty dishes, clogged toilets, grimy clothes, toxic materials, and budget-busting energy prices. It’s time the fairer sex took environmental Neanderthals head-on."

Yea, all women define themselves via their dishes, toilets and clothes. How forward-thinking of you. Damn those neanderthals, etc. You know, if you're going to misappropriate another movement's rhetoric, at least do it in a clever, not brain-dead way.