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Gillette takes a swipe at traditional wet shavers?

Strictly speaking, DE blades are still disposable as well.
the difference between carts and DE blades in terms of disposability is minor, IMO.

If you read my post you'll see that that was precisely my point.

Though there is a difference in ecological terms between plastic and metal. One is biodegradable, the other isn't.
 
In the video it looked like a Trac II or clone disposable, so it is hard telling if it was a targeted swipe of some sort, or at what, other than that their latest thing with the $3.30 to $5.50 cartridges is so much more superior in their representation.
As it happens though, Gillette (now P & G), Schick, and Bic have long held a combined 90% of the non-electric shaving market. I was surprised to once dig up that even house brands, which get a lot of shelf space, only get a combined 6%. Still, the big brands, and Gillette in particular, are now up against new alternatives. At last count, Dollar Shave Club, which we all know as Dorco with regular delivery service, had over 600,000 members. Twenty percent of them are women. DSC raised $12 million in bond financing for expansion into non-shaving accessory products in 2013.
http://allthingsd.com/20131008/doll...oduct-portfolio-and-create-lifestyle-content/
We, the resourceful traditional shavers who escape the cartridge wars with creative adaptations on how our dads or grand-dads shaved, are still a tiny but growingly visible minority. We are probably somewhere south of one percent, though the numbers have grown multiply and geometrically from near zero in the past five to ten years.
Yet another part of the market simply skips shaving altogether, or does so only occasionally, which is not surprising with what the cost of cartridges has become.
In the bigger picture of 100+ million men who shave, in addition to the 100s of millions more in the international market, the tens or hundreds of thousands who found alternatives are not a serious threat to market share - at least not yet. Still, given that Gillette likely won't take a big plunge into such a low-profit market they have to deploy a marketing "forward defense" to head off any potential perception that alternatives are a good idea. Showing them as an ugly return to the past could be one such tactic.
 
The problem is that Dorco razors don't look like "old" razors. They look exactly like current Fusion razors, with a different color scheme. Harry's razors look more tasteful and grown-up than either.
 
I think Gillette is just carrying on with their business model since the Goodwill. Look at the Toggle instructions:

"but now with the NEW.... Gillette Adjustable"

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Reads a lot like the Rollerball to me.
 
If you read my post you'll see that that was precisely my point.

Though there is a difference in ecological terms between plastic and metal. One is biodegradable, the other isn't.
Biodegradable?
im not aware of the razor industry utilizing biodegradable plastics in carts, and I certainly wouldn't consider stainless steel to be biodegradable.
do you mean recyclable? Even still, few if any regions accept razors of any kind for recycling.

can we just agree that this is just a relatively moot point?
 
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Biodegradable?
im not aware of the razor industry utilizing biodegradable plastics in carts, and I certainly wouldn't consider stainless steel to be biodegradable.
do you mean recyclable? Even still, few if any regions accept razors of any kind for recycling.

can we just agree that this is just a relatively moot point?

Again, that's my point.

I think you will find that metals degrade much faster than plastic.
 
I love this ad! Reminds me of the ads for Dyson vacuum cleaners with the roller ball feature. Gillette, just like Dyson, overpriced with other options that are MUCH better.
I dunno, if there's a better vacuum than my dyson, I haven't found it! :) Even my homes central vac doesn't compare. expensive, yes.
not all new technology is bad. And not everything was right or good enough, in the old days.

i despise the razor blades manufacturers marketing. But I think they've made some good products over the years, and can't really blame a business for wanting to maximize profits.
 
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The Fusion will never be an heirloom because it looks like it was designed by someone who took too much bad acid and read too many H.P. Lovecraft books. The sucker looks like a cross between an insect and a robot. Stupid looking. Zero long term cool factor there.

I suspect many people felt the same way abut the first DE's compared to their old straights. Its all relative. 50 years from now shaving with any blade or cart at all may be a niche thing. It could all be electric in the future, which might make a 2015 Fusion very unique and attractive to some collectors. Who knows?
 
I know a lot of shaver see Gillette as the evil empire but they make some good products. I don't use a DE as often as I'd like(most days I'm too twitchy), but I've used a variety of cartridges in the last couple of years, including Techmatics. TracII, Atra. Semsor and Mach3. They all give good shaves if you learn how to use then, and with good prep. Copy the adverts though at your peril. I've not tried any of the Fusions yet - theu're way too orange :)
 
Plastic also doesn't age particularly well.

I don't know what type of plastics are used in a Fusion, but in my fathers commercial plating business the acid we used to remove nickle plating from metal rollers was stored in plastic drums. I still have some of those barrels that were emptied, cleaned, cut in half, and bartially buried that are used for feeders. Buried partially in the ground, the top half exposed to sun, rain, winter, you name it, for over 30 years. They look like new. Just sayin....some plastic ages extraordinarily well. :001_smile
 
I don't know what type of plastics are used in a Fusion, but in my fathers commercial plating business the acid we used to remove nickle plating from metal rollers was stored in plastic drums. I still have some of those barrels that were emptied, cleaned, cut in half, and bartially buried that are used for feeders. Buried partially in the ground, the top half exposed to sun, rain, winter, you name it, for over 30 years. They look like new. Just sayin....some plastic ages extraordinarily well. :001_smile

Plastic never dies (unfortunately) but cosmetically it doesn't age well. You can't polish it or replate it. The colors fade. Again, take a look at an old Atra to see what a used 30-year-old plastic razor looks like.
 
Gillette has taken the "new and improved" approach to advertising. Anything that is labeled new and improved is supposed to trigger an impulse to buy it.

My grandfather was cut from the same cloth. He taught to shave after supper. I still do this.
 
I think the ad is driven more by the need to get people to upgrade out of Mach 3.

The challenge for Gillette has always been to get people to move up to a new razor when the old one basically did the job.

The Trac II was legitimately a big leap forward for many men from DE. Each successive leap has been less important.

Getting people to move from Atra to Sensor was probably tough, Sensor to Mach 3 tougher, Mach 3 to Fusion tougher still.

So you have to actively stigmatize "holding onto old razors" in order to get them to upgrade. I don't think there are any 25 year olds who are rooting around under Grandpa's sink looking for a Trac II -- or not enough for Gillette to worry about. But there are probably millions who are still buying Mach 3, and since the patent is expiring, that means they can move over to generic drugstore cartridges, which Gillette does not want.
+1
 
Plastic never dies (unfortunately) but cosmetically it doesn't age well. You can't polish it or replate it. The colors fade. Again, take a look at an old Atra to see what a used 30-year-old plastic razor looks like.
Many Atras had aluminium handles.

So far, the plastic grip of my Schick Krona DE does not show any sign of aging.
 
"Flexball technology".... I like it. Hey, it worked for vacuum cleaners, right?:lol:

Gillette is up against the same marketing situation as everyone else- they are trying to keep the retail cost up by offering something the consumer cannot get elsewhere, whether that 'something' be real, imagined, useful or not. At one time, Gillette owned a large percentage of the shaving market. Now they have far less of it due to changes in the available technology, one of the main ones being electric shavers. So the goal becomes to increase the price on the fewer razors that they now sell to keep the level of income high.

Brian

This might be an OK razor, but I think I would prefer it if I could just deflate the ball a little!
 
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