Shy Bladder Group Has No Problem Getting Pissed At Rob Lowe’s DirecTV Commercial

Today I learned there’s an active shy bladder lobby in this country. And they are making a big, public stink (for once) over a DirecTV commercial featuring Rob Lowe. You’ve likely seen it before. Lowe plays two versions of himself: one a suave and put-together leading man and the other a painfully awkward Lowe facsimile.

That line about having a problem going in public? Yeah, the Pee Partiers didn’t appreciate it.

The ad is in poor taste and ridicules a serious problem, said Steve Soifer, CEO of the International Paruresis Association, which estimates that some 7 percent of Americans have some form of “shy bladder syndrome.”

“We don’t mind if people have a little fun with it,” said Soifer, a social work professor at the University of Memphis. “It’s a situation that a lot of people don’t understand. In this particular case, the portrayal is making it look ridiculous, that this guy is a loser for having a problem.

“What if he didn’t have a leg or an arm?” he said. “Are you going to make fun of them?”

It appears DirecTV is lifting its proverbial leg at the whole thing, saying the commercials will continue to air as they’re enjoyed by a “vast majority” of viewers.

With apologies to the 7 percent of Americans who suffer from this terrible disease, I’m not sure this is the best PR for the niche group. It must be hard enough to get people to attend a Shy Bladder Anonymous meeting and now they’re alienating the factions of people who love television and Rob Lowe.

Not smart, BIG SHY BLADDER, not smart at all. As the saying goes, you attract more flies with honey than piss and vinegar.

[H/T: AP]