What's Charmin Got to Do with Being Vegetarian?

The man who's successfully been spreading the concept of Meatless Mondays to everyone from universities to stay-at-home-mom-foodies to Mario Batali is no stranger to selling a message: he is part of the reason, decades ago, that Charmin toilet tissue became as popular as it did.

A story from NPR this week remembers the earlier days of Sid Lerner's career in advertising. His successful "Squeeze the Charmin" campaign made people think the softness was irresistible.

Lerner, now 79, has started a nonprofit devoted to the idea of cutting back on meat at least once a week. His efforts were jump-started by his own personal health challenges, and he is now working to spread the idea that people should eat meat more as if it were a 'condiment' in the diet, rather than the staple food. The numbers are pretty astounding: NPR notes, "Back in 1950, when Lerner was a young man, the norm was about 2.8 pounds of meat a week. Jump forward to 2006, and consumption increased about 50 percent."

Of course, Lerner could also be trying to undo the environmental impact caused by Charmin and similar brands, but whatever the motivation, we're glad his branding skills are still sharp and his campaign is working.

Now, in case you're wondering what those Charmin commercials looked like: