Meet Simon Griffiths, Co-Founder and CEO of Good Goods. Simon is quite literally sitting on the toilet until Who Gives A Crap raises its first $50,000 on IndieGoGo, the global equivalent of Kickstarter. And for better or worse you can watch him sitting on the toilet LIVE via the whogivesacrap.org webcam (don’t worry - no bad camera angles!).
To LBB’s Addison Capper, Griffiths said: “Please jump on the website. Watch the hilarious video, watch me sat here on the toilet until we raise $50,000, and be sure to pass on the message to your friends.” And it’s not surprising that he wants you to pass on the message because when asked about the current state of his derrière, he kept it short and sweet: “Not pretty!”
Although the Who Gives A Crap product is undoubtedly cheeky, it’s addressing a very serious problem. 2.4 billion people (almost 40% of the world's population) do not have access to basic sanitation. This results in water borne illnesses that kill 4,000 children under the age of five every single day. This problem is one hundred per cent preventable, but at current rates of sanitation improvement will not be addressed globally until 2080.
That’s why Griffiths and his team created Who Gives A Crap. "This is a new line of toilet paper that uses 50% of its profits to build toilets and improve sanitation in the developing world. In collaboration with WaterAid, we're helping the world's poorest people access clean water, sanitation and hygiene education. A product that everyone needs is now helping those in need", says Griffiths.
Recipients of several business plan awards and international fellowships, the team working on Who Gives A Crap have spent the last two years perfecting the product, coordinating logistics and developing the launch strategy. After extensive product testing the start-up is 'ready to roll'. Griffiths attests "Our final step is to place our first bulk production order and now we need the help of the public."
To fund the production run, Griffiths today announced the launch of Who Gives A Crap’s official crowd funding campaign. The mission is simple: to raise a minimum of $50,000 to produce the first bulk lot of toilet paper, suitably entitled First Edition. Who Gives A Crap supporters on IndieGoGo get to pre-order the product and receive additional rewards.
Griffiths' unyielding conviction has inspired a personal pledge well beyond the call of duty. Griffiths is quite literally sitting down for what he believes in, announcing that he will remain seated atop the official Who Gives A Crap toilet until the crowd funding campaign raises its first $50,000. His pledge, like his conviction, is indefinite and can be witnessed now via a live webcam at whogivesacrap.org