Curiosity has created a campaign for DUDE Wipes that traces bathroom habits from the Stone Age to the Space Age. And somehow, it all makes perfect sense.
The centerpiece, “The Evolution of Wiping,” unfolds in the Museum of Rear-End Innovation, where a museum guide in a blue tracksuit walks visitors through humanity’s bathroom history. Tree bark, corn cobs, communal sponges (shudder) – turns out we’ve been getting this wrong for centuries.
Then there’s the Uranus mission. Because if you’re going to revolutionize bathroom hygiene, why not take it interplanetary?
Museum Studies
The museum setting works because it treats the ridiculous with complete seriousness. Our guide has the energy of a dad who’s been to one too many school field trips, delivering facts about ancient wiping methods like he’s explaining the Renaissance.
The historical framing is smart strategy disguised as dumb humor. By putting toilet paper in a display case next to pine cones and medieval torture devices (okay, they’re just sticks, but still), DUDE Wipes positions dry paper as another relic from humanity’s less enlightened past.
The space extension pushes the same idea forward – if wet wipes are the future, let’s literally take them to the future. The astronaut presenting DUDE Wipes against a starfield isn’t subtle. It doesn’t need to be.
The Curiosity Touch
This follows naturally from the agency’s previous “Drop Your Drawers” work, which as detailed in their IndieWork Live session last year, channeled vintage confidence campaigns into bathroom bravado. During that conversation, Creative Director Matt Cragnolin explained how they drew inspiration from those 80s and 90s ads where people raised their hands because they were so confident in their deodorant. The museum and space concepts show they’re finding fresh angles on the same core truth: wet cleans better than dry.
What makes the partnership work is the commitment to the bit. As Ryan Meegan, DUDE Wipes co-founder and CMO, noted in that same discussion: “We wanted to be that other friend in the room… that’s kind of what we brought to the table without extremely overstepping the lines.” No apologetic winks, no “we know this is silly” hedging. Just straightforward dedication to making bathroom innovation feel like humanity’s next great leap.
The production sells it too. These aren’t sketches – they’re fully realized worlds where bathroom evolution is serious business. That commitment is what transforms juvenile territory into genuinely entertaining advertising.
Shifting the Conversation
DUDE Wipes continues to normalize what was once completely off-limits in advertising. They’re not just selling wipes; they’re changing how we talk about basic human functions.
The numbers suggest it’s working. Over $220 million in retail sales in 2024. Third fastest-growing brand in the category. 8.9 million households. Those aren’t accident numbers – they’re the result of finding the exact right tone for a tricky topic.
Meegan and team have figured out the formula: be the friend who says what everyone’s thinking, but say it with enough charm that nobody’s uncomfortable. Curiosity keeps finding new ways to express that voice without wearing it out.
Whether in museums or outer space, the message stays consistent. And clear. And surprisingly compelling for a product category nobody wanted to think about five years ago.
Sometimes the best ideas are the obvious ones nobody else will touch.
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