I mean, it must have. You’re here, after all.
Don’t you just love those products that promise to remove the worst, toughest stains from ANYTHING, including your hands? There is a whole market for items that make lives easier, cleaner, and less injury-inducing. We’re in the world of “As Seen On TV,” and today’s commercial is one that remained basically unaltered throughout its early existence.
The name was strange, but before Oxy Clean, it was your laundry’s best friend…and a stain’s worst nightmare.
Get those shirts messy, but don’t throw them out just yet!
Today’s commercial has origins in 1987-1988, but this version is from 1990. I introduce to you the wonders of Didi Seven!
No, that’s not the name for a commercial robot, it is the name for a cream-based cleaner that could tackle the worst “As Seen on TV” stains from all types of “As Seen on TV” fabrics!
Heck it even works on your HANDS!
This amazing product is the cream-based cleaner Didi Seven, and when you see what it does, you’ll be mindblown!
Didi Seven was first marketed in 1967 after spending years in development by German inventor Walter Willmann. The name was a combination of Willmann’s childhood friend Edith “Didi” Koster, and the number seven, which he considered his “lucky number,” as his birthday (July 16, 1925) added up to seven in various combinations.
Willmann sold the product through consumer show demonstrations and retail venues throughout Europe. It was in England in 1987 that the power of Didi Seven caught the attention of Interwood associate Tim Devlin, who saw a demonstration of the product at department store Selfridges in London. Devlin was so impressed that he purchased a tube to take back to Canada. Devlin first sold the product through live demonstrations at Canada National Exhibition, Canada’s largest consumer show, in the summer of 1987. A two-minute Direct Response Television (DRTV) commercial was produced at a local television station in Barrie, Ontario, 60 miles north of Toronto. Shortly after, it was marketed in the United States, and by 1992, the product had reached 100-plus markets around the world. Walter Willmann’s assets were acquired by Interwood in 1989 to deter counterfeit production in the United States.
By 2000, 20 million tubes of the strangely named miracle stain remover had been sold, with Didi Seven Ultra launching in 2003. This version boasted an improved formula coupled with more convenient packaging. Interwood Marketing was acquired by Northern Response, and unfortunately, as of 2017, Didi Seven is no longer produced.
You know, I really hate this part. I’m always convinced I’m going to find a commercial for something that still exists, and well, I wind up being disappointed once in a while.
The same commercial, with modifications, aired for quite a few years. I remember seeing the images of stains winding up on two different shirts, and this strangely-named cream being put on the shirts, making the stains disappear like MAGIC! Didi Seven was the OG of making disappearing stains look amazing!
Heck, this version even offered a 2-tube discount!
You can really get your 1980s curtains clean with this much Didi Seven, and still have enough to clean your crazy dirty hands!
Ewwwwww!
These days, from a nostalgic perspective, seeing this commercial in the wilds of commercial archiving likens it to the typical As Seen on TV Problems (which I affectionately refer to “White People Problems”), an advertising gimmick featuring white suburbia bombarded by total First World Problems. You know the type – stains on clothes, spilling everything trying to carry so many items, opening a cabinet and all of the plastic containers just spill out everywhere, wrist injuries, back injuries, falling down stairs, not being able to turn off the television unless you clap your hands, coffee filters everywhere – life in suburbia is messy, and the people are just plain old disgruntled and silly! So much “OH NO!” to be had. Didi Seven had the same effect!
Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t share this compilation of “OH NO!” moments – all the spills, splatters, trips, cuts, scrapes, bad backs, broken hoses, broken eggs, and broken souls As Seen On TV could possibly muster.
I still want to know who has that many plastic containers in their house.
Have a fantastic Flashback Friday, and a great weekend!