PROFILE IN COURAGE


snake river canyon of plates

The following press release comes to you courtesy of our good friends at Proctor & Gamble :

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Dawn® dishwashing liquid with new "Lift Action" formula will stage a wash-a-thon of record-breaking proportions. At Irwindale Speedway, Dawn will prove that 10,000 plates can be washed with just one bottle. Then, the dishes will be stacked for Kaptain Robbie Knievel's death-defying motorcross leap.


(Robbie, son of Evel)

Wondering how challenging a jump over 10,000 plates can be? Imagine this: if laid end-to-end, 10,000 plates span the length of 25 football fields. To give Kaptain Knievel a fair chance, the plates will be set up vertically in seven dish racks that span 120 feet, creating a total jump length of 150 feet.

Knievel's jump is the culmination of the Dawn festival and wash-a-thon, where the public is invited for complimentary breakfast, carnival-themed games and giveaways. DJ Gerardo Tello "El Carnalillo" from Que Buena 105.5 & 94.3 will rock the grandstands and energize the breakfast crowd for Kaptain Knieval's courageous jump.



(Gerardo. no relation to your host)

"We enlisted Kaptain Robbie Knievel because he recognizes the Dawn jump as a true challenge," said Ernesto Levy, Dawn Brand Manager. "In fact, Knievel's jump might not be enough to beat the power of Dawn -- 10,000 dishes is a lot of ground to cover!

"We've staged this event to illustrate that Dawn goes the distance for consumers every day," adds Levy. "In fact, we're so sure about the value in one bottle of Dawn that we're capturing this jump for a Guinness Book of World Record entry and a television commercial, scheduled to air in January."

Prior to this jump, Team Dawn -- a group of 300 washers, stackers, caterers and runners -- will serve an egg breakfast (leaving a tough food-cleaning residue) to at least 1,000 expected attendees; dirty another 10,000 plates; and wash the more than 10,000 dishes -- all in just one day. Team Dawn will then carefully stack the clean dishes on the pre-assembled jump platform.



(dirty dishes, much like those Robbie will attempt to leap over. competing, inferior product in the background)

Team Dawn will assemble the 9-inch plates in seven 8-foot-high specially-constructed 120-foot-long dish racks -- spanning 150-feet across the parking lot at Irwindale Speedway. Kaptain Knievel's engineering team developed the jump formation to challenge the daredevil's quest for distance records and to ensure his safety.

"I'm always interested in distance jumps with a unique flavor and this one grabbed my attention," said Knievel. "After jumping 18-wheelers, cars and the Grand Canyon, I want to go the distance against a bottle of dishwashing liquid."

The event is free and open to the public. It will be located in the parking lot of the Irwindale Speedway, 500 Speedway Drive, Irwindale. Admission starts at 7a.m.; breakfast will be served to the first 1,500 attendees from 7-10 a.m. The jump is at 12:30 p.m. PCT.

Dawn with Lift Action gets under tough grease and lifts it away in a flash. Dawn dishwashing liquid is sold at food, drug and mass retailers. While Procter & Gamble does not set retail prices, the 12.5 ounce bottle of Dawn is expected to retail from $0.99 to $1.49 and the 25 ounce bottle for approximately $1.99 to $2.49.

Posted: Thu - December 4, 2003 at 11:09 AM      

©