Jingle All The Way (Swiffer episode)

Clap on, clap off!  

This JATW episode is sure to land our beloved jinglers in the delightful earworms wing of the Smithsonian. Enjoy some good clean fun while we put our spotlight on Swiffer!  

Vote for your favorite on instagram: @jingleallthewaypc

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

A jingle all night and a jingle all day. Jingle all the way.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Hello, jinglers. Hello there, jinglers. Uh, welcome to jingle all the way. We are the number one amateur competitive jingle writing sibling rivalry podcast in the country. Uh dare I say, in the world. In the whole wide world. In the whole wide world. Each episode, we write jingles for the same product. We perform them for one another. And then we let our listeners, that's you, pick the winner. And get ready to say, because we're on fire today. Each episode has four segments. First, we announce the poll results and feedback from the prior episode's contest. Next, we move to Inspiration Corner, where we'll dissect a current or former jingle. Um, after that, we unveil the jingles we wrote for this week's product and we discuss our thought process, and finally, we leave it in your capable hands to decide. Heidi, what did I miss? Not a bloomin' thing. Not a bloomin' onion. Okay, well, uh, the results are in from the Kleenex episode, and you wiped your nose with me. Um, I had 29% and you had 71. But that was deserved because yours was really good.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Well, I think we both come to the table with good uh good jingles. Thank you. Um, I think it just depends on how it hits the crowd, the mass audience, you know, what they're in the mood for.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

It's true. Although that definitely was one of your finer, was one of your finer moments. Um, so uh kudos to you. I had a lot of good feedback from folks. Um, I definitely think that the uh we struck a nerve um with regard to um our message. PSA, our PSA, I guess, um, regarding keeping your germs to yourself, darn it. Did you believe feedback? Uh yeah, I did. I had some thumbs ups um and some people saying uh heck yeah. Uh when we talked about, you know, I think our I think our message is we believe in sharing everything but germs.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Yeah, man. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

I think that's something that a lot of us could get behind these days.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

I don't share clothes anymore because you rooted for me. So I can't really say that I share anything. You didn't share then. I just helped myself.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

And then I would carefully put them in. Because I would shared. What I would carefully put them back, and I would have absolutely no idea how you would even fathom that I touched them.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

I don't think you realize how much you spill all over yourself. Kool-Aid, Cheeto dust, Oreo dust, you name it. It was like you rolled down the steps, out the front door, down the driveway into the like pink pen?

unknown 2:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

You had a total pink pen vibe.

SPEAKER_02 3:02

I definitely have a problem with dusty food, so I could see that, but dusty food? Well, yeah, like Cheetos and Oreos. Dusty, dusty food definitely is a problem area of mine.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Um that was my first ick as a kid. I saw somebody like I was I remember vividly where I was. I was in like second or third grade, I was in the big cafeteria, which was the gymnasium, and there was a kid across from me eating Cheetos and drinking out of a milk carton, and the Cheeto ring was on the milk carton, and I was like, that is disgusting. And I just was like, I I can't see life the same way anymore. And I mean, well, how old are you in second and third grade? Eight, seven? I was just like, ugh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

I had an ick with a dude who on the bus would chew on his nails. And I mean, and I mean, it was literally like, oh, you know, Billy, do you want to like bring a granola bar or whatever on your way to school? And he would have been like, nah, I'll eat my nails because he was eating them. Like, I'm and literally it it would be like everything in my power to not think about it or not concentrate, or like, you know how like if you're if someone makes you laugh in the middle of like class or something and you're like, think of something sad, think of something sad. If you don't laugh out loud, I'd be like, think of something not gross, think of something not gross. But all that does is ruin the non-gross thing. Right, because then it's like tied in with it, it's associated with it. Right. Like if you've ever had a wonderful food, but you just happen to get like the stomach flu or whatever, you can never have that food again.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Yeah, at least not for a long while, hot dogs. Uh barbecue chicken. Oh, yeah, that'll do it. Well, we used to go to Dino's. Was it Dino's? No, I'm getting the wrong name. What was the hot dog? Parssies. We used to go to Parsi's in the city, and they had I like their hot dogs, and then one day, me and the hot dogs no so bueno. But I was like, but I need to get back on the hot dog train. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

Well, I I m uh I hot dogs said goodbye to me years ago, and I we said goodbye to each other. It was mutual, and we're okay with it. Now um, now I'm fine, but it took a really long time, and it's still not like one of my favorites. Yep. Yep. I'm like, I can tolerate it. The thing that was awful is once I was sick after a um Leona's stuffed artichoke, going back to like places and whatever. And that was pure torture because that was one of my favorite items in the world. And then I just had a stomach flu. Like, I don't think there was anything wrong with it. I just think I was sick. And that was awful. Oh, that's bad.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

Because that was one of my favorite foods for like decades. It was and I remember getting in a fight with someone because I always wanted to go there, and I'd go all the time, and finally he was like, You have a problem. And I was it was like they needed to have a stuffed artichoke intervention for me. It's too much, it's too much. All right, well, bring us in.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

Let's drive into the inspiration corner, shall we? I had inspiration corner this week. And um I am going to see based on uh how far I get into this before you recognize it. So let's see if you can name that tune um with the uh the beginning, which is clap Oh yay!

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Clap on, clap, clap off, clap on, clap off, the clapper.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

That's funny. I have that on my inspiration list for like the future. It's oh my god. That is iconic.

SPEAKER_02 6:55

It is iconic, and I got to learn a lot about them. So, first of all, I was always a fan. That is a brilliant little hook. It everything about their advertising campaign was fantastic. Everybody loved the clapper. If y'all don't know what a clapper for the for the young'uns out there, if you're unfamiliar with a clapper, even though it is still on the market, so it still can be purchased. Um, the it was a sound-activated electrical switch. Um, it's been sold since 1984 by Joseph Enterprises Inc. Um out of San Francisco. Heidi, uh, the gentleman, Joe Pettot, um, I believe is his name, or it's how you pronounce his name. Um, he was the ad man who basically bought it um and sold it. He also is known for um his first product that he sold, which is the chia pet. Uh chia. Again, this guy, I'm actually disappo I'm I was terribly sorry to learn that he passed away in 2023. He there is an exhibit about him in the Smithsonian, where they also have a clapper and a chia pet.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

Virgin, what if one day you and I are in the Smithsonian for all of our great jingles?

SPEAKER_02 8:18

Right, because they have and they're like, these two sisters came up with the greatest jingles ever. And and while while their Instagram uh uh campaign was originally sluggish, it really, it really hit steam with their Swiffer episode. But he is very inspirational. So uh apparently he was from Chicago. Um, he was born in April 1932.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

People are from Chicago. I'm gonna say that. All the besties in the world. And God love the whole wide world and everywhere you're from, be proud of your hometown. But Chicago has so much creativity and so much funny and a lot of scrappiness that comes out of it, too.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

Apparently, the um the clapper itself was originally called the Great American Turn On. That's kind of funny. Um, but it didn't work, and it was like short-circuiting TVs and stuff like that. So he was like, let me buy this, let me fix it, let me get something, a great campaign around it, which he did, and he did all of those things, and that became the one of the most iconic ad campaigns in my our lifetimes, I would certainly say. And there's no there, like it's not like that's part of the song. That's it. Clap on, clap off, the clapper, clap, clap. Um, the there was a commercial of an elderly woman in bed, and she turns the lights off when she's going to bed, but they did various campaigns throughout the 80s where it would be like turning your Christmas tree on and off or whatever. Um, fun, and and people then started, everybody bought the clapper, everybody had a clapper. People started to notice that like your dog barking would turn it on and off. And so, like, that was funnier. Like, if there was music on really loud, it would flip the thing on and off. Um, there is, like I say, it is still sold today. Um, and now they have different sort of like flavors or whatnot of it. Flavors. Well, you know, like different, like there's an R2, there's a Star Wars one, or there's uh whatever, there's a Bob Ross one, etc. Like just different novelty clappers. Man, I've been out of touch with the clappers. I need to get back in there. I think I think you do. I think it's time to reconnect. One fun fact, I don't know if you knew this, I didn't know this, but I double-checked it, and according to the internets, it's true. Um, there was a woman who sued Joseph Enterprises in 1991 because she injured her hands clapping too hard. Come on now, America. And it's true, the lawsuit was dismissed, but apparently, when you know people talk about frivolous lawsuits, they use the one of there was someone once that sued McDonald's because their coffee was too hot and they burned themselves. And apparently, this is another one. I think that coffee one actually got something. Like I think they may have gotten like a settlement or something. Um, in this case, it was dismissed, but somebody definitely went after the clapper people.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

Wow. Wow. Disclaimer, everyone.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

All you jinglers and janglers, if you're going to run out and buy a clapper, which we fully endorse, um, make sure that you are listening to yourself and your limits when you are clapping.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

So I clapped yesterday.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

I'm exhausted. I had to call into work. I can't come in today.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

I overclapped. You get like those risk things, those risk protectors. You're just like, oh God, I really had a tough weekend. Turn the clapper on and off.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

It's like you come in in a sling and they're like, What happened to you? Oh. Don't ask, man. Those those clappers have been known to kill people.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

Oh my God. Now, listen, what the world doesn't know about Bridget is I went with her once to Bed, Bath, and Beyond. And there's a big section of Bed, Bath, and Beyond, the Beyond part, that is as seen on TV and at this particular section. Oh my God. It's like floor to ceiling, it's a big section. And she's like, Oh my god, oh my god, I need that. And I thought she was kind of joking, like playing it up. And then I turned and this crazed look was in her eye. She's like, Well, you gotta have that. You have to have that. She is the person for whom as seen on TV is made. Oh, absolutely, I am.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

And if there's an infomercial on, I've bought all of it. I have it. I mean, going back to like um, remember the George Foreman grill? That was a big thing. I don't even like grill. You did not buy that. I absolutely bought that.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

I had the um you had the Snuggie, I think. Oh, absolutely. I had multiple Snuggies. I had all the different colors, I had all the different like varieties. Um, I had the shamwow. Do you remember the shamwow? I do remember the sham wow, and I remember that commercial very well. Um, I had that. Oh, the spin mop? Now let's not get too crazy because we know the product that we're gonna be talking about this week. So, you know. Right. Move over spin mop. Here comes over spin mop because Swipper's in town. But um the yes, the spin mop, I had to have that. Um I many, many, many things. I am uh probably the fact that we do happen to host the number one amateur competitive jingle writing sibling rivalry podcast in the country um is indicative of my roots being highly, highly susceptible to marketing influence.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, you started early too with like I think the penny CDs, the the Oh yeah, Columbia House. Columbia House. Those were great. Well, you also had something else, some ceramic thing that you got in college, I want to say.

SPEAKER_02 14:19

I had my Beatles bell jars, and I'm looking at them right now. Uh it was from the Franklin Mint. It was a collection, and it was all of the different stages of the Beatles' career in a little musical bell jar. And you wind them up and la la la la la.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

I have them right here. I don't know if I've ever purchased, I'm trying to think, if I've ever purchased one thing as seen on TV. And I really don't think I have. Oh, come on.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

No, no, I'm trying to be missing out. Life is passing you by. What about those like record collections?

SPEAKER_00 14:53

Do you remember we had like I think well, first of all, first of all, I love those. Although I never bought one myself. Mom and dad had the, it was like the Time Life Christmas collection or something like that. Now that's what I call Christmas. Yeah, now that's what I call Christmas. They do have one that I would get, like, it was like a yacht rock one, and I was like, every one of these songs is my favorite. Um, but I didn't buy it. I have I downloaded a lot of it, but I haven't bought that. I probably should. I wonder if it's still out there. That's a good inspiration. That's that's a good one. The clap on, clap off, and to know that somebody sued. We just learned a lot today, Bridget.

SPEAKER_02 15:31

I know we did learn a lot, and I want to go to the Smithsonian. I'm super bummed when I learned about this guy. And he doesn't seem like a shady da-da-da. It seems like he just knew how to pick winners. You know what I mean? And wasn't a shady da-da-da. He wasn't a shady, he wasn't a shady da-da-da. And he um, here's a fun thing. Pedot, I I don't know how to say his last name, P-E-D-O-T-T, Padots, Pedot's firm, um, was innovative in advertising techniques. The company was the first to use dealer tagging, a technique, a technique used at the ends of television commercials. During the last five seconds of the commercial, consumers would learn where the advertised item could be purchased. So he's the guy that got us going. Available at Target, available wherever fine goods are sold. That's him. That's Joseph Pettot. Really? And he's from the city of Chicago. I wonder where he lived exactly. Uh University of Illinois. Um, and he and his friend Daryl Peters began the advertising company Pettat and Peters, although he they they they went separate ways. Um, but that said after it says after making a bad business investment, the partners focused on completing college.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

Completing college.

SPEAKER_02 16:45

Uh it doesn't say what that was, but yeah. So, I mean, he's a very inspirational guy. He passed away in 2023, and I'm sad about that, but I think perhaps a trip to the Smithsonian is in order, and we can pay homage to Mr. Pettit.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

If we get there, we'll take a picture in front of his booth or whatever, and we'll post it on our page. It's the Joseph Pettett papers. So there's not a bronze of him.

SPEAKER_02 17:13

I would like to be bronzed. I don't, I uh I don't know. I guess there's really only one way for us to find out. Yep. Gotta go there.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

Cut to our travel montage.

SPEAKER_02 17:23

Hold for travel montage. Hold for funny hat montage. Okay, so now, because I went first, or because I had inspiration corner, you go first for the actual jingle. Now, here's a um fun fact listeners, both Heidi and I struggled to remember exactly how our jingles start, like on what note. So we each are gonna hopefully remember it and land and stick the landing now when we sing our jingles. But pre-warning, if I screw mine up, I reserve the right to try it again.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

Same, same. And it's only because I kept fiddling around with what key I wanted to come in on and all that. Um I wanted something because the Swiffer product, I love the kind of ease they brought into a chore that I hate. I also love that one of the biggest, I mean, I'm a shedder, so I need like a quick Swiffer to run around the floor, is is always a good thing for my house. Um, when we had a dog, she wasn't a big shedder, but you know, it made a difference to have a Swiffer. So I was like, I love the easy, simple, you know, especially the one that has the wet Swiffer with that little lemony scent. Bing, bing, boom. So I wanted to infuse a level of easy, happy, sprite-like experience. So here I go with my Swiffer jingle. La la la la. Okay. Now it's clean and nice and bright with Swiffer.

unknown 18:58

Ding.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

Ooh, I like it.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

You're supposed to go a little bit faster, but when I go a little bit faster, I get a little mushy on the notes. I almost need like a piano accompaniment. But what if I put a harmonica? We do need the sound effect for the ding. Now it's clean and swiffer ding. Now it's clean and nice and bright with swiffer ding. Wait, no, no. Nope. Nope. Now now it's clean and nice and nope. Nope, forget it. Just go with my key one in the can. Because the end is important. Swiffer.

unknown 19:36

Ding.

SPEAKER_02 19:37

Da ding. There you go. We got it. We got it. Um now it's clean and nice. You know what it reminds me is um Charlie's coming down the tracks. It's like a train. It's like a it's like a locomotion of cleanliness.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

It's just Swiffer coming around the corner and picking it up.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Barreling down.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

Right. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

Barreling down dirty floor. Um now it's going to is is the ding, is that supposed to be like a gleam?

SPEAKER_00 20:12

Like when it's supposed to be like a gleamy sound.

SPEAKER_02 20:15

Like when someone smiles and like they put a little gleam on their like tooth. Their dental commercial, yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 20:21

Ding! And um my my mom and dad got the like power mob. That thing is awesome. You just use power mop.

SPEAKER_02 20:31

Yep. Um, Swiffer makes some good products. So I am a big, I am a very big fan of the brand. Um, I literally have one upstairs, one downstairs. Um d well, hold on. Mine is hold on, I gotta get it in my head. S W I double F R beautiful spaces wherever we are.

SPEAKER_00 20:55

Oh, I like it. I feel like I know what your inspiration was, double F.

SPEAKER_02 20:59

I know it was because last episode we were talking about, you did the K-L-E-X, K-L-W-E-N-E X, and then um we did the H A double W W E N, and I was singing the Halloween song for many, many moons. And so then once I came up with, once I realized that we had a double F in the product, W double F, I was like, oh, I'm double F. I know what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

Sing it again.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

S-W I double F E R beautiful spaces wherever we are. I like it.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

That's very good.

SPEAKER_02 21:39

So it's very, very in the vein of what we were doing last time, just like my jingle last time was very in the vein, or two times ago, or whatever, of um let's all go to the lobby. So my inspiration, I think, is is is definitely there, but it's it's very much a juxtapose. Do you suppose? I juxtapose. Um, it's very much a juxtapose, I think, to um, you know, they've never they've never had a Swiffer name brand jingle ever. Um, Swiffer, as you um likely also saw, uh, same as my research, Heidi, um, was launched in 1999 by Procter and Gamble, and it's one of their most successful brands ever. Um, it is a classic razor and blades model. So the handle is affordable, and then you keep basically buying refills, um, sort of like forever. It works because you, as consumers, I think, are getting something. It's the quick clean category that really didn't exist before. I think once this made its way onto the market, people were crazy about it because it's like, look, I'm not gonna do a big mopping of the house. Like, I don't want to do start a whole thing with this. I just need to get whatever. And so, you know, it's so beloved. Beloved or beloved?

SPEAKER_00 23:04

I think beloved. Beloved, it's so beloved.

SPEAKER_02 23:07

Um, that their ad campaign, which I remember, I remember back in the day when it was like you're gonna break up with your old mop. And it was like all the different songs, you know, Don't You Want Me, or Baby Come Back or whatever. And it was like the mop looking out all sad because somebody had moved on um to their Swiffer. I remember that, and then I know that um, you know, again, they leveraged a lot of older like 70s, 80s pop hits and stuff. Beyond that, they have the product recognition, but they've never used the name. And so, yes, I went with something that's a little bit counter to their existing brand, but um, it seems light and easy and you know, rolls off the tongue and delightful. And, you know, this like joyous, easy, light-hearted experience, similar to where you went, um, I think is very appropriate to the brand.

SPEAKER_00 24:05

Totally. I mean, it was the era of it move, it moved us into the era of disposable clean. Um, you know, so you're reusing, you're just throwing away those things. Like you say, you're not gonna take out the full mop and go through the whole kitchen. That's a lot of lugging. And honestly, other than like a deep, deep clean that you want to do, you're getting the same output. You know, you're getting the same, not the same output, but you're getting the same end result. People come in, especially again with those lemon-scented wet ones that then, you know, you do the dry one first and then the wet one, like you get a very clean, bright smell. So I love that you're that that beautiful spaces is where we are, whatever you said at the end, that is very true. So it's in the right, it's the right feel, and it's honest. So I like it.

SPEAKER_02 24:56

That and like there is something to me about does your regular mop ever get really clean?

SPEAKER_00 25:04

I wonder about that, and I don't have any more uh you uh utility sink. So I have to put it in like the downstairs bathroom sink, and I was like, I don't So you rinse your mop out in your toilet. Hey, whatever works, man. All drain, all drains go to the same place, man. So whatever works, it's all going to the same place.

SPEAKER_02 25:24

So shall we determine shall we select our item for next episode?

SPEAKER_00 25:31

We should, as you're looking those of that up, uh, because we have an educated crowd, I just wanted to uh clarify that I did look it up, and as an adjective, um beloved, it's typically typically pronounced with two syllables, beloved. As a noun or in formal poetic or religious context, it's dear it's beloved three syllables. Wait, I don't understand. Say that again. So if it's an adjective, like um my beloved friend, it's typically pronounced with two syllables. As a noun or informal, like religious contexts, because I just was looking this up, like dearly beloved, it is commonly pronounced three syllables.

unknown 26:09

Hmm.

SPEAKER_02 26:10

So now okay, this is interesting. I don't know if technically we can accept this.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

What is it? Well, let's see. Well, Uno. Ooh, why couldn't we accept it?

SPEAKER_02 26:23

Well, I mean, it's well, yeah. I mean, I guess it is it's a product. Yeah. Do they have do they have commercials? Would they need a jingle?

SPEAKER_00 26:32

They do have commercials because I remember them from the 80s. I don't remember exactly what they were, but I remember seeing people on the uh television playing Uno. Like, hold on. Someone just said the other day, too. Like, it's like Uno reverse. I can't remember where that was. Um, let me look up Uno Commercial. Uno commercial, por favor. Yeah, it says Uno.

SPEAKER_02 26:53

I don't ever remember an Uno commercial.

SPEAKER_00 26:56

I kind of do, unless I remember you sunk my battleship. Oh, yeah, no, it says uh the Uno show em no mercy ad is our most brutal Uno game yet. Is this hold on, let me just see. Did I just reference the video? We didn't play Uno as kids. Yeah, but then I didn't like then I started like hanging around with Uno people, like Uno families. I'm like, what have we been missing here in our Parchezi family?

SPEAKER_02 27:23

We play Uno as a family now. We played Parchee and we played sorry and we played Candyland.

SPEAKER_00 27:31

Yes, we definitely mom was a big fan of sorry and Parchee. We definitely played those. I remember that. And weirdly enough, I wanted to be a battleship family, but no matter how much I asked, I never got battleship. Finally, I had battleship. I had it. I didn't, per usual, and how come you didn't let me play with it then? Because I was looking all over for Battleship.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

Maybe maybe I got it when I was a little bit older and you weren't interested in playing with me or sharing a room with me.

SPEAKER_00 27:59

Listen, I got I was always interested in playing Battleship. I still am interested because I'm unstoppable at Battleship, and I complained about it so much that a friend of mine gave it to me as my graduation from college present because I wouldn't shut up.

SPEAKER_02 28:12

Oh, maybe that's what I'm oh, that's probably why I was playing it. Maybe I took it from you then. Um probably the uh so here's my secret, okay? Clump all your ships together.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

Um, look, the actual secret is you stack them on top of each other.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

You do not. You do not think that's hilarious.

SPEAKER_00 28:37

Yeah, and I always win, and then like, you can't do that. I'm like, game's over, chump. See you on the next see on the flip-flop. Stack them on my rod off on my banana seed.

SPEAKER_01 28:47

And people are like, nobody would be stupid enough to do that, but I'm still stupider like a fox.

SPEAKER_02 28:54

Well, we've got our work cut out for us then. So we're gonna um, you all, please, jinglers, head out to um Instagram at jingle all the way pc and um register which uh jingle was your favorite. We will be hard at work coming up with great jingles um for Uno for you for next time. And uh in the meantime, jingle away. Jingle away.

SPEAKER_01 29:21

Bye bye.