![Screenshot of a Facebook ad from Lil Helper, with the naughty words covered with a black bar. The edited text reads, “The [blank] You Deserve. Your partner loves you. You’ve [blank] of intimacy. Don’t ruin it by pulling out a sad little towel. Towels = soggy night. Lifesaver Mat = dry sheets, [blank] on, cuddle mode unlocked. Absorbent enough to handle anything you throw at it — like [blank] or… you know. Stop doing laundry after love. Start celebrating. Machine-washable, waterproof barrier, pretty prints (or simple ones if you’re boring.)” The screenshot from the video shows and Indian man in glasses, a beard, and a beige shirt mid-speech, holding up one finger and holding a gray blanket in the other with the words “my friend” superimposed over it. At the top is a clipped Instagrama comment reading, “My new GF is [blank blank] HELP!!!!”](https://capertongillett.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/lil-helper-ad-628x1024.jpg)
In a past Ads I Wish I’d Made, I highlighted Adam Greenberg, the Diaper King of Chicago, because even though the billboards themselves weren’t terribly creative or conceptual, they did something a lot of advertisers wouldn’t have the stones to do: They spoke plainly about a sensitive issue, because his audience made it clear they wanted to be spoken to plainly, and he delivered.
And in that spirit, today’s AIWIM cranks that up to 11. Because it’s a product that, now that I think about it, could also serve the NorthShore’s customer base, but also a broader and more diverse customer base, and by God are you going to know if you’re in that base, because dude is FRANK about it. Lil Helper makes an assortment of products designed to catch body fluids in an assortment of circumstances, and their ads and videos star… just this dude standing in the stockroom, talking to you about the products. Actor? No, the founder of the company, Mohammed Gandhi — just this dude. Elegantly scripted? I keep telling you, he’s just this dude talking to you, using frank, unashamed, biologically accurate language.
He’s talking to you about the importance of something more elegant than a crappy little towel if… intimacy becomes particularly… damp. (Hey, he can be frank, I have an algorithm to worry about.) (Or if it gets really damp, and if you think this absolutely NSFW ad is the one that first caught my AIWIM eye, you’re right.)
He’s talking about period clots, which are definitely not something you see represented by the mysterious blue liquid used in most pad ads.
He’s talking about poop.
And he’s responsive to his audience — creating wing-less period pads for trans men and other people who wear nontraditional underwear (also highlighted for equestrians and bike riders), and bibs for a mom who wants to help her adult son who has trouble eating, and extra-small pads for girls experiencing precocious puberty, and sheets for menopausal women who sweat a lot. And he’s respectful of the dignity of people who purchase his products while also being funny and offering a Space Dino print.
Who is this guy I told you he’s just some guy who used to be an aerospace engineer and didn’t like it so now he makes an ever-growing suite of absorbant products, and he’s super endearing.
So yes, now we’re up to two AIWIM about guys who speak frankly about pee, and no, that’s not something I anticipated when I started the series (or, indeed, when I entered the advertising industry). But it’s the stuff that stands out that stands out, and the people who stand out who stand out, and I’d happily join the Lil Helper marketing team if I wasn’t pretty sure it’s, like, two people or something.
It’s not gratuitous gross-outs, but it’s also not shying away from topics we shouldn’t have to be shy about. And an ad that’s bold enough to just, like, talk about real stuff is an ad I wish I’d made.