#1

Posting Freak
(This post was last modified: 09-11-2017, 05:00 AM by Marko.)
Is anyone ordering this soap?

https://www.phoenixandbeau.uk/collection...aving-soap

It seems to be in a similar line that Will at Barrister and Mann has released, e.g., Hallows, Fougere Gothique. Not in the scent profiles (that I know of) but rather in the dark, creepy branding that seems to sell so well. I'm curious to see how this release goes and what people think of the soap. Perhaps there is even a secret ingredient in the soap? If you've seen the film The Red Violin you know what I mean....Confused

Bert369 likes this post
#2

Member
Detroit
It is kind of disturbing to me. I just don't get why this appeals to people in the realm of shaving products. The extreme branding of soaps and aftershaves (whether dark and satanic or not) is silly. Whatever they need to do to sell their stuff I guess. It doesn't appeal to me though. All I'm concerned with is scent and performance. A nicely designed label is cool, but it has nothing to do with what's inside the package and all this new stuff is just over the top, IMO. Here's another one: https://www.drjonshandcraftedsoapco.com/...-pre-order

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- Jeff
#3
Yes I ordered it! Looking forward to receiving. The label
Is cool but I ordered it for the scent profile.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Marko likes this post
#4

Posting Freak
(09-10-2017, 07:06 PM)wyze0ne Wrote: It is kind of disturbing to me. I just don't get why this appeals to people in the realm of shaving products. The extreme branding of soaps and aftershaves (whether dark and satanic or not) is silly. Whatever they need to do to sell their stuff I guess. It doesn't appeal to me though. All I'm concerned with is scent and performance. A nicely designed label is cool, but it has nothing to do with what's inside the package and all this new stuff is just over the top, IMO. Here's another one: https://www.drjonshandcraftedsoapco.com/...-pre-order

I know what you mean, for some reason the dark, creepy stuff sells. Not just in the shaving space either, look at the popularity of Halloween among adults and the whole horror genre on tv and movies and these zombie walks? What's up with that? I'll bet skulls outnumber angels in tattoos by 100 to 1 at least.

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#5

Member
Las Vegas, NV, USA
Perhaps it’s the fleeting nature of mortality that inspires a certain morbid curiosity in people — more strongly in some than others.

The popularity of dark themes reminds me of the movie Spinal Tap, and the scene where the band’s new, completely black album cover is revealed: “The question is: How much more black can it be? And the answer is: None, none more black…”

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Whenever I go to shave, I assume there’s someone else on the planet shaving, so I say “I’m gonna go shave, too.”
– Mitch Hedberg
#6

Posting Freak
(09-11-2017, 06:41 AM)Matsilainen Wrote: Perhaps it’s the fleeting nature of mortality that inspires a certain morbid curiosity in people — more strongly in some than others.

The popularity of dark themes reminds me of the movie Spinal Tap, and the scene where the band’s new, completely black album cover is revealed: “The question is: How much more black can it be? And the answer is: None, none more black…”

Or Sterling Archer's wardrobe which consist of suits in either black or a slightly darker shade of black.Big Grin

I agree that there is a morbid fascination with dark themes, death, the occult and so forth. Perhaps people are attracted to that which they most fear but the attraction is to a stylized, theatrical rendition of those themes. You don't see a lot of demand for tours of cadaver labs and funeral homes nor any shaving products that smell like real corpses. That would be taking things a little too far. When I stick my nose into a tub of soap I'm looking for something heavenly, this particular offering from P&B brings to mind Weirdly Gruesome from the Flintstones - You smell revoltingly ghastly Creepella !

Matsilainen likes this post
#7
(09-10-2017, 07:06 PM)wyze0ne Wrote: It is kind of disturbing to me. I just don't get why this appeals to people in the realm of shaving products. The extreme branding of soaps and aftershaves (whether dark and satanic or not) is silly. Whatever they need to do to sell their stuff I guess. It doesn't appeal to me though. All I'm concerned with is scent and performance. A nicely designed label is cool, but it has nothing to do with what's inside the package and all this new stuff is just over the top, IMO. Here's another one: https://www.drjonshandcraftedsoapco.com/...-pre-order

This comment features the fact that you focus on the performance and scent of soap. However, you expand at length how you are also put off by the branding of the soap, and highlight that prominently in the reply, perhaps even more so than the thing that you identify as your true value. Someone in the position, that you state to be a core value of yours, though, is more likely to say: "I don't agree with the messaging of this soap, but I will wait to try it myself before passing judgement", or "...ditto (disagree w/ messaging), but I will wait for a consensus from my community before deciding to pass judgement". I bring this up not to be confrontational, but to bring to light our inner thoughts on soaps, scents, performance and marketing. From what I said above, the opinion I get from your comment is that you do not feel as though "evil" allusions should be made with regards to any product marketing, including smoky or darker scents. The original post was generated to get a census of the community's thoughts of this soap (Whitechapel in this case) and all of the following comments have elaborated on the individual commenters' distaste for the marketing. That is valid, fine, marketing does play into whether or not you will buy a soap. However the straw-man for this argument is that all of our soap makers should call their soaps either 'Dark' to not be offending those who might disagree with one spectrum, and 'light' to not disagree with those that disagree with the opposite side.

Personally, I think Halloween is fun. I like dark smoky scents. I understand that purchasing a dark smoky scent with a fun and correlational name will not damage my faith. In fact, I think that purchasing a soap from a maker who stands by something that they strongly believe in - while making good products along the way - strengthens my own faith. I feel bolstered by finding dedicated and talented craftsmen, and supporting them when I am interested in the scent profile (insert any peculiarity of any product) that I might enjoy, regardless of any small qualms I may have with their marketing.

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#8

Member
Maryland
I'm sorry, to me it's creepy and misogynistic. Sorry I clicked on the link.

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#9
Everyone is just copycatting Will's general idea to market a dark scent in a Halloween themed way. With that said, do some take it too far? Of course I think some of it is way over the top. But am I offended by satanic themes? Hell no. It's laughable to me how shameless these copies are down to the "spooky" quotes and how it's become normalized for everyone to have a Halloween scent. Sure, a Fall scent is fine, but does everyone need a Halloween one? With that said, think of the origins here. Will riffed dark scents in shave soap from the high fragrance world (like most things he does).

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#10
I am in a strange position here: I don't find the Fougere Gothique label creepy or offensive, most probably because devil is a imaginary entity that no one ever saw, only read in fictitious books, and the pictures of devils are products of artists.

Also the Dr. Jon label is okay once the hebrew writings were removed (blood libel). Blood is just blood.

This one, this white chappel, on the other hand, is Creepy, I tried a good 5 minutes after reading Michelle's post to like this label. I simply can't. A bloodied naked woman, killed by a serial killer : this is where I personally draw the line.

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