Clorox Kicks Off "Flushing" Campaign Today in NYC

Nash launches the campaign today at New York City’s Grand Central Station where she will help distribute free subway passes to commuters heading to and from Flushing, NY. For every commuter ticket distributed, Clorox will contribute a like-for-like subway fare donation to the WTO, providing approximately 10,000 free rides and a donation of $22,500.

“We are celebrating everything about the toilet including highlighting the basic human right to have one. When we learned that 2.6 billion people worldwide didn’t even have access to a toilet and that 2.2 million people die of water-borne disease each year—we knew we had to fight for people’s right to potty,” said Alice Warren, brand manager for the Clorox family of toilet products. “We are honored to have Niecy and the World Toilet Organization as partners in raising awareness of this important issue.”

Those outside of New York can get involved in the campaign by visiting OdeToTheCommode.com and flushing the virtual toilet. For every flush, Clorox will make a donation to the WTO, up to $10,000.

“I am joining Clorox toilets and the World Toilet Organization because as a mother of three, it is shocking to me that every day water-related diseases claim the lives of 5,000 children under the age of five. That is roughly one child’s death every 15 seconds. By using a little humor and giving free rides to Flushing, we can help remove the taboo of the toilet and do something to help change this,” said Nash.

The WTO is a global, non-profit organization committed to bringing health and dignity to everyone through clean toilets and sanitation. The WTO works to advance sanitation through advocacy for the ‘toiletless,’ through sanitation education and training, and building capacity within communities in need to construct, sell and install safe, affordable latrines.

“People dislike talking about toilets, and what we do not discuss, we cannot improve. Projects that include some potty-humor like the ‘Flushing for a Cause’ campaign help the WTO to open a dialogue about sanitation and the devastating truth that billions of people around the world are living and dying without toilets,” said Jack Sim, founder of the WTO.

According to Sim, in India people have more cell phones than toilets.”It’s a scary statistic when you think about the health implications and the fact that toilets affect every part of our lives. Sanitation keeps kids healthy and in school, it reduces adult illnesses and improves work productivity, and it can spur tourism and development. Toilets have a far greater payoff for a household than cell phone ownership, but we have to be as clever as cell phone companies when it comes to assisting communities in the developing world to market and distribute toilets,” he said.