WaxVac (earwax removal tool) – A Marketing Review

Lately you’ve noticed that your hearing is slightly off, like somebody has been turning down the volume.

Those belches and sounds of flatulence by your mischievous co-workers are now going unnoticed by you.  Having a conversation is also a little more difficult as you keep finding yourself asking for people to speak louder or repeat themselves.

One day you discover that your hearing problem is caused from the excessive build up of earwax in your ear canal.  It’s nothing serious.  The only question is how to safely remove the earwax without causing damage to your eardrum or ear canal.  Cotton swabs have been around for ages and many people use them to clean their ears, but when used incorrectly the swabs could push the earwax further into the ear canal, putting pressure on the eardrum and causing pain and misery.

If you remove cotton swabs from the equation, is there an alternate way to safely clean the earwax from one’s ear canals?

What’s this?  The WaxVac?

WaxVac website — www.WaxVac.com

That’s right!  You remember seeing the TV commercial for the WaxVac just the other night.

WaxVac TV commercial

Let’s take a closer look at the WaxVac TV commercial and see how it’s being sold to us, the general public.

WaxVac TV commercial – Now which hole gets the cotton swab again?

The WaxVac TV commercial begins with a scientist trying to figure out how to use a cotton swab to clean his ears.  Keep in mind that you can clean your inner ears with a cotton swab, but it doesn’t have the best results and you have to be careful.  This guy isn’t careful and he stabs his eardum, causing him to yell out in pain.

Ahhh, yes.  I can remember the college days now along with the shower room right down the hallway.  Each morning you’d hear a chorus of everybody cursing and yelling in pain as they tried to use cotton swabs to clean remove their excess earwax.  It was sort of like an alarm clock for those of us who were still in bed.  Oh, wait a moment, that never happened.  Everybody was somehow able to clean their ears with cotton swabs and without causing injury to themselves.  Imagine that.

WaxVac TV commercial – The warning label looks kinda fake.

The WaxVac commercial continues with the dire warning about the extreme dangers about using a cotton swab to clean your ears.  I don’t know if it’s just me, but that warning label on the container of cotton swabs looks fake.  It looks like the production team made their own label and slapped it on the side of the container.  You can see where the label is covering up the artwork on the package.

So what’s the grand solution to removing earwax from your inner ear?  Is it to use a paper clip and carefully scoop out the earwax?  How about using a spray solution and then flushing the ear with water?  What about having ear candling sessions on a regular basis?

No?  None of those?

WaxVac TV commercial – Be sure to smile when using the WaxVac.

The correct answer (as far as this advertisement is concerned) is the WaxVac, an electric tool that supposedly cleans and dries your inner ears.  We see a collection of scenes with people using the WaxVac, all of them smiling while doing so.  One scene even shows a mother using the product on an infant, proving that this can be used on everybody.

Showing people using the WaxVac is not enough, especially since the company’s website tells us virtually nothing about the product itself.  It’s time for some animations showing how the product works in an ideal situation.

WaxVac TV commercial – Watch as the cotton swab shoves earwax into the eardrum.

Up first we have the classic example of how not to remove earwax from your inner ears.  As if we really had to be shown this example, the TV commercial shows a cotton swab pushing earwax further down the ear canal and into the eardrum, causing the person pain.  Of course, continued irritation with the eardrum can lead to further problems such as permanent hearing damage.

Yikes!  That looked painful and nasty and just plain awful.  Let’s hope that the WaxVac can do a much better job and actually remove the earwax.

WaxVac TV commercial – Watch as it sucks away the wax.

As we see in the animation, the WaxVac works like a miniature vacuum cleaner, sucking away the moisture and earwax in the ear canal.

The animation makes the WaxVac look a little bit too perfect.

• Does the WaxVac also vacuum out the stiffer earwax that’s been sitting in the ear for a while and gets stuck to the walls of the ear canal?

• Does the WaxVac cause negative pressure on the eardrum and make you need to “pop” your ears like when riding on an airplane?

• Will using the WaxVac too often or too long cause damage to your ear canal and eardrum?

Hopefully the TV commercial can answer those important questions because the product’s website, a place that should be abundant with information, doesn’t come close to providing any useful information.

Up next we hear about how the WaxVac is quiet.  Well, if your ears are clogged with wax right now then a lot of things will seem quieter than normal.  The key thing here is that you shouldn’t expect something as loud as a jackhammer or boom box next to your ear.

WaxVac TV commercial – It’s safe . . . as long as you precisely follow the instructions.

Next we hear the TV commercial tell us that the WaxVac is safe.  The only reason the advertisement claims that the WaxVac is “safe” is because a safety bar prevents you from jamming the tip too far into your inner ear.  That doesn’t mean that the tip may not push excessive earwax into the eardrum.  It just means that allegedly you won’t stab your eardrum with the tip of the WaxVac.

WaxVac TV commercial – Watch how effective it is in the most ideal of conditions.

Last we see how the WaxVac claims to be effective.  A quick example shows the earwax removal tool sucking up a tiny amount of water and then dirt.  The problem with this example is that we don’t see any real examples of the WaxVac in action.  The small drops of water and tiny amount of loose dirt on a smooth surface are IDEAL CONDITIONS for the WaxVac.

But what about a real person’s ear?

Unfortunately, it would take a laboratory to actually measure a person’s earwax before and after using an earwax removal tool such as the WaxVac.  Sure, it probably works fine for grabbing the loose pieces of wax, but as far as actually removing the excessive earwax and keeping your ear canal clear, that’s still unknown.  The examples in this advertisement prove nothing since we don’t see any proof of this being useful in a person’s ear.

WaxVac TV commercial – Your earwax will drip out like water.

Cleaning the WaxVac is said to be simple and easy.  You just pop off part of it and rinse it in a sink.  But again we’re seeing the WaxVac in an ideal situation.  Take a look at the wax and see how it’s dripping out of the holder.  That’s almost all water like from the “effective” example we saw a moment ago.  Earwax, on the other hand, is normally thick, pasty, and it ranges in color from light yellow to dark orange.  Earwax is going to clump together and fall out of the container in chunks, not dripping out of there like in the example.

WaxVac TV commercial – I told you NOT to use cotton swabs, mother$%&!

After briefly being shown how the WaxVac works under ideal conditions, the TV commercial reminds us again that cotton swabs are bad for cleaning the inner ear.  Dr. Kenneth Ackerman, M.D. tells us so because we’re stupid enough to do it anyway.

WaxVac TV commercial – Little Sally shows us how she tries to remember things.

Momentarily switching away from the earwax theme, the WaxVac TV commercial tells us how wonderful the product works when trying to remove water from the ear, like after swimming or taking a shower.  Apparently we’re not suppose to stand there and pound our head like a jackass.  According to the TV commercial we’re supposed to purchase and use the WaxVac.  Ummm, okay.  No point in the advertisement going into further detail here.  We’ll just assume that it’s the best solution to that annoying problem.

WaxVac TV commercial – Listen to me and do as I say.  I’m your mother.

If you’re still not sold on the WaxVac tool, grandma tells us that she thinks it’s the perfect solution.  Yeah, that’ll convince some people.  Good job, team!

WaxVac TV commercial – I have a very simple and flawed view on products.

Next we have another quick example in the war against cotton swabs.  This time a young mother tells us her philosophy of a child liking something to her loving it.  I’m pretty sure some infants enjoy taking a dump in their diapers, having temper tantrums, and throwing food across the room.  Are those acceptable behaviors for adults as well?

WaxVac TV commercial – I bench press wimps like you in the gym.

Last we have some tough guy telling us that WaxVac is a great idea and that “. . . [it] just makes sense.”  This is the bully technique.  This guy is here to convince us guys that it’s okay to use a product like the WaxVac, even if it looks a little bit silly.  If we disagree he’ll yell at us and hurt our feelings.  If we still don’t purchase the product he’ll beat the snot out of us and then steal our lunch money.

WaxVac TV commercial – Stop making faces or I’ll shove this into a place where you’ll be farting fireballs!

What about alternate solutions to removing excessive earwax, such as ear candling?

Ear candling is a process that uses a hollow candle to remove earwax from your ear canal.  The candle is lit and the warm air rises and “sucks” the wax out of the ear.  This could be dangerous as it involves a real flame that slowly gets closer and closer to the person’s head.  Ear candling is controversial and its effects are inconclusive.  Studies have shown that ear candling doesn’t accomplish anything, but some people, including myself, have witnesses its positive effects on people.

WaxVac TV commercial – Wait!  You mean we’re NOT supposed to remove earwax with a cotton swab?

That’s it for the alternate solutions as the WaxVac TV commercial jumps back onto the anti-cotton swab bandwagon.  By this point the “don’t use cotton swabs to remove earwax” theme has been thoroughly beaten into our heads.  Maybe the advertisement will switch to a different theme and finally tell us something useful about the product.

WaxVac TV commercial – The blinding power of the examining light!

The WaxVac TV commercial switches to selling mode and we learn that the earwax removal tool comes with eight different tips.  This way each person has their own tip and there’s no need to share.  In addition to that, the tool itself has a built in light so that everybody can turn into an amateur doctor.

WaxVac TV commercial – The sales promotion.

We’re finally hit with the sales pitch and learn how ridiculously cheap it is to purchase the WaxVac.  That is, ridiculously cheap until you factor in the shipping and handling charges.

Seeing that the WaxVac has a base price of only $10 is actually a little bit scary.  This is an electronic device that you stick into your ear and you’re trusting it to be of a high enough quality that in addition to performing as its advertised, you’re ALSO counting on this thing NOT breaking and causing any kind of damage to your ear.

And it only costs $10 before shipping & handling.  Actually, it’s only $5 since the promotion throws in a second one for free, so they’re $5 each plus a small fortune to put it in a box and mail it to your house.  Somehow I don’t believe that such a low price is going to encourage more people to buy a product like this one.

The TOTAL COST of the WaxVac promotion comes to $23.98 ($10 + $6.99 S&H + $6.99 S&H (for the “free” item)).  In a shocking twist of advertising, the product’s website actually lists this total price on the bottom of the website!  It’s in the fine print, but it’s there.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Removing excessive earwax has been part of life since our cavemen ancestors.

Most people have a method of removing earwax that works for them.  Some people can use cotton swabs correctly, others use miscellaneous items to scoop out the wax, other people use alternative methods such as a water solution or ear candling, and still other people will have a doctor regularly help remove earwax.

And then along comes the WaxVac, a product claiming to be “. . . the safe way to clean your ears.”  Take note that they use a superlative in the advertisement, something frowned upon by the FCC.  Claiming to be “the safe way” implies that there are no other safe ways to clean your ears.  This is it, the one and only safe way to clean ears.

Between the superlative in the advertising and the incredibly low price for the product, we know that something is fishy here.  Throw in the virtually useless examples of the product in action (can they show us that any earwax was removed from the people?), along with the very basic and uninformative product website, and it’s clear that the advertisers are stretching to find ways of selling the WaxVac.  Hell, it seemed like half the commercial was waging a war against cotton swabs instead of informing us about the WaxVac.

I’m a believer that the WaxVac is actually priced so low that it’s going to turn away buyers.  The price of only $10 for two of the units is going to have some people questioning why it’s priced so low.  If the price was, say, $19.99 or even $24.99, the company may see an increase in sales.  When people see the slightly version of the price they may be reassured that this may be a higher quality product than it being listed for only $10.  $10 for two electronic devices usually means that it’s a scam as the quality is most likely garbage.

The overall problem is that there is no one, guaranteed way of safely removing earwax.  What works well for one person will cause stress and misery for somebody else.  You just need to research and experiment with methods until you find a cleaning process, or cleaning tool such as the WaxVac, that works for you.

————————————

All of the WaxVac commercial images were screenshots of a TV commercial currently available on YouTube and the product’s website.  For more product information, please visit the company’s website at www.WaxVac.com.

WaxVac is a registered trademark.

RellimZone.com is not affiliated with WaxVac.

———————————-

This article was originally published at www.chamberofreviews.com on January 29, 2013.  The comments are listed as they originally appeared.