Libby Copeland

Writer. Editor. Cultural Spelunker.

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Libby Copeland March 27, 2013
Meet the Mormon brothers who make adorable ads about disgusting things (WaPo Mag)Photo by amanda

Meet the Mormon brothers who make adorable ads about disgusting things (WaPo Mag)

Originally Published: Washington Post Magazine • July 21, 2016

A few years back, the founders of Squatty Potty had a problem. Their product is a plastic footstool that wraps around the base of a toilet to elevate the feet and make going to the bathroom easier. Its founders say that changing the sitting angle unkinks the colon, making for a more natural and satisfying experience. But advertising such a product is difficult. The company’s previous attempts to explain the benefits of squatting veered from the scientific to the euphemistic; one TV ad featured a woman Hula-Hooping in a “healthy colon” T-shirt.

Then the founders of Squatty Potty turned to a marketing firm called Harmon Brothers, known for turning gross into gold…Perhaps it takes people highly attuned to the fault lines of culture to know how far they can push things.

Read the Full Article.

Categories: Marketing, Pop Culture, Washington Post Tags: bathroom humor, Harmon Brothers, Poo-Pourri, rainbow unicorn, Squatty Potty

Libby Copeland

Libby Copeland is an award-winning journalist who writes about culture, science and human behavior.
Her book, The Lost Family published March 3, 2020, looks at the impact of home DNA testing on the American family (sign up below for updates and events). A staff reporter and editor for The Washington Post for over a decade, she now writes from New York for publications including Slate, New York Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, The New York Times, The New Republic, Fast Company, The Atlantic, Glamour and more. As a staffer at The Washington Post, she wrote feature stories from the 2008 presidential trail, the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, and the 2005 Michael Jackson molestation trial. Copeland has appeared on MSNBC, CNN and NPR. Read More…

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