Cheeky 'Handbutts' Campaign Shows You How to Use a Shower Toilet

Wunderman Thompson Switzerland has created a clever hack for demonstrating the function of the Geberit AquaClean shower toilet, without showing the body part for which it was built.

When hands are placed together in a certain way, they become an amazingly real-looking naked bottom. Coined ‘Handbutts’, Geberit can show the product benefit in a pictorial way for the first time: A butt (which is not a butt) being cleaned by a jet of water. But as soon as the camera zooms out, the hand is revealed, and viewers can see how using the Geberit AquaClean shower toilet is just like washing your hands.

Susanne Wyss, campaign manager for Geberit AquaClean said: “The brain plays the appropriate trick on the viewer: it automatically suggests that it is a naked butt, which of course is all the more striking. Our team and the markets were immediately enthusiastic about the Handbutts. And the target group obviously is too. From day one, we have received very positive feedback on the campaign. It is close to the product, stands out and is somewhat provocative. And it really puts a smile on the faces of all viewers.”

Following the launch of the campaign, it became clear the public loved handbutts, so Wunderman Thompson Switzerland released a ‘How-To-Handbutt’ video, showing people how they could create their own handbutt.

Swen Morath, Co-CEO of Wunderman Thompson Switzerland commented: “The briefing was clear: show the main function of the Geberit AquaClean quite directly, and without the usual ado. But advertising is subject to certain guidelines. Naked butts should not really be shown and in digital media, the algorithm immediately censors them. So how can you show butts without showing butts? When the Handbutts idea came about, everyone immediately wanted a photo of their own Handbutt. We really wanted to tap into this engagement potential with the how-to video. And it seems to work great, as you can see from the first films created by users," Swen continued.

The campaign launched in mid-November in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK and will be rolled out in six other European markets until March 2022.