BUSINESS

Kohler's 'Koohl' response to SNL spoof

Phillip Bock
USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
Kohler Co. responded to an SNL skit on Tuesday with an image of Kohler President and CEO David Kohler that mirrors the fake SNL advertisement.

Kohler — Kohler Co. responded to a Saturday Night Live skit this week with an ad of its own that spoofs the spoof.

The image, featuring Kohler President and CEO David Kohler sitting backwards on a black toilet, mirrors the SNL skit that featured Benedict Cumberbatch sitting backwards on a Kohler Co.-inspired toilet design.

On Saturday, British star Cumberbatch, perhaps best known for his modern take on Arthur Conan Doyle's classic character on the BBC's "Sherlock," hosted the sketch comedy show and gave local Sheboygan County fans a surprise shout-out by dropping his pants and posing on what was parodied as a newly designed, futuristic "Koohl toilet" from Kohler Co. in a fake commercial.

Kohler's Senior Vice President of Brand Management, Elizabeth Brady, said the SNL skit was a complete surprise to the company.

"The Saturday Night Live Kohler toilet commercial was purely organic and a pleasant surprise. We were flattered, enjoyed the satire and have received a lot of positive comments," Brady said in a statement released by Kohler Co. "Kohler has always strived to be innovative, design-forward and provide high-quality products, so it was exciting to see a show like SNL spoof on some of the great work we’ve done to promote toilet innovation. As a brand, we are actively engaged in social media, and the team definitely had some fun crafting our response and extending the reach of this exposure."

Likely a tongue-in-cheek reference to Apple's famous 1984 Macintosh computer commercial, the skit kicks off in a dystopian-future type setting with legions of people, who are sitting on standard toilets, being instructed that toilets have always been designed in a way that makes the user look "stupid" and that it is "against regulation" to look cool or feel confident on the porcelain throne. However, Cumberbatch saves the day by going against the status quo.

Kohler Co. had more fun with the parody with a tweet on Twitter: "Clearly there has been a leak from our product innovation team #BenedictCumberbatch."