"David Advanced Plus+"
« previous post | next post »
Stephen Collins' August 14 comic in the Guardian, "Meet David Advance Plus+, genius of toothpaste marketing", starts with these four panels:
David Advanced Plus+ introduces himself:
And he magically transforms the product line:
What they are, obviously, is plus+:
Mike Grubb said,
August 28, 2026 @ 8:26 am
I wonder why "visisensi" was buried in the middle of the incantation. A quick search doesn't turn up anything related to dental product marketing. Even if "sensi" is supposed to be the first part of "sensicoolgel," "visi" as a standalone doesn't seem to have anything to do with it either. Maybe someone can brighten my dullness.
David Marjanović said,
August 28, 2026 @ 8:32 am
Visible (makes your teeth look artificially white), sensitive (makes your teeth less sensitive), cool (as in "wearing sunglasses"), gel (as in "toothpaste is so 1980s").
Trogluddite said,
August 28, 2026 @ 8:50 am
Somewhat tangentially, I'm reminded of my time working at a Job Centre (where unemployed folks go for financial and vocational help from the UK government). At great expense, and with no substantial change to the services provided, these were rebranded as "JobCentre Plus" as part of Tony Blair's "New Deal" of the late 90s. Given the organisation's somewhat authoritarian reputation, one soon got tired of both colleagues and clients joking about "JobCentre Doubleplusgood".
Dick Margulis said,
August 28, 2026 @ 11:30 am
Consumer product brands compete for (and pay for) shelf space in stores. The widest display garners the largest market share, all else being equal.
So, a few years ago, my wife and I grabbed seats on Metro North and found ourselves seated with some women who were working through a slide deck related to Colgate toothpaste. I engaged them in conversation. I said I found all the multiple variations confusing and could rarely remember which exact variety I was looking for, especially because the ingredient labels were all identical (except, they warned me, Colgate Optic White, which is somehow different). They confirmed the point in the comic: they really are all the same two products (paste and gel), and I should buy whichever happened to be on sale on the day I shopped. One of life's little annoyances eliminated.
Y said,
August 28, 2026 @ 12:03 pm
Plus+ doubleplusgood.
Philip Taylor said,
August 28, 2026 @ 2:51 pm
I am told that so long at the toothpaste has 1450ppm fluoride, all should be good, but to get the greatest benefit from the fluoride (it doesn't matter which formulation) I should not rinse after brushing. Spit but not rinse,
Chas Belov said,
August 28, 2026 @ 8:54 pm
I was advised that stannous fluoride is better than sodium fluoride (not that there's anything wrong with sodium fluoride) and that if my municipality has fluoridated water (it does) that it is okay to rinse with that water, but not with bottled water.
I am not a dentist and this is not dental advice (from me to you, at least).
Rosie Redfield said,
August 29, 2026 @ 12:08 am
I think use of stannous fluoride is probably a patenting trick. Pharma often formulates the active ingredient (negatively charged fluoride ion, in the case of toothpaste) with an unusual partner (in this case positively charged 'stannous' (tin) ion instead of the more common sodium ion) so they can patent it as a new drug.
Michael Vnuk said,
August 30, 2026 @ 1:06 am
Amid all the different types of toothpaste shown in the cartoon, I did not see the variety that I noticed in a shop recently here in Australia. Produced by Hismile (stylised as 'hismile', and which my brain persistently parses as 'his mile' although I think I am supposed to say 'hi[gh] smile') and Reese's, it is a 'Fluoride+ toothpaste' (note the plus sign) in a 'Peanut butter cup flavour'. I had barely heard of the company, but Wikipedia says it is based in Australia, which may explain why the Reese's toothpaste (made in Thailand) is currently only available in Australia and New Zealand. Wikipedia also says that Hismile produces a variety of other flavours, including watermelon, raspberry and fried chicken (in association with KFC).
Picky said,
August 30, 2026 @ 4:13 am
@Trogluddite: ' with no substantial change to the services provided, these were rebranded as "JobCentre Plus" ' My memory is that the Plus had meaning: its was added when JobCentres were merged wth Social Security offices.
Andrew Usher said,
August 30, 2026 @ 1:56 pm
I suppose the (marginal?) linguistic issue is what 'Plus+' is supposed to be, contrasted with 'Plus plus'. Just 'plus' pronounced with some kind of especial emphasis? Or a deliberate nonsense? (I'm not sure if this writer does that kind of thing.) Also: "Are they bollocks" with no punctuation? He uses normal punctuation otherwise, and I can't imagine what the point of that might be. Interestingly, that's one place where American bullshit could not replace bollocks – we'd have to use something more direct, or 'my ass' which I'm sure is a dysphemism for the obsolescent 'my eye/foot'.
And isn't selling the same product under different names a sort of fraud?
Andreas Johansson said,
August 31, 2026 @ 2:01 am
I assumed the Plus+ v. Plus plus thing was like Psmith, who can hear if you don't pronounce the silent P.
Mike Grubb said,
August 31, 2026 @ 8:10 am
@David Marjanović
Thanks. I guess I was thrown by the pattern that all the other elements (with the exception of the + symbol) seemed to be complete words, so I mistakenly tried to apply that pattern to visi and sensi as well.