Given the fact that I'm fairly eco-geek/freak/chic, I see a lot of new products rolling my way via TreeHugger, CoolTools, and the array of magazines laying around my home, my friends homes, and homeopathic doctors' offices (okay, I'm joking about that last one).
I don't know where I ran into Tersano's Lotus Sanitizing System, all I know is that it wasn't from seeing it on The Home Shopping Channel, because I imagine if I did, I might run the other way screaming.
The company touts the Lotus for use in "cleaning fruits, vegetables, meats and other foods after the e.coli scares as well as for using around the house as a substitute for other spray cleaners -- to remove stains, or clean and sanitize surfaces."
Which was intriguing enough for me to pull up the product on Amazon to see what the reviewers were saying. Which, aside from various technical problems, looked promising. A look on Treehugger and a Google search pulled up a number of reviews (even a vid from Canada's investigative consumer show), ranging from "miracle cleaner" to "snake oil maker".
What caught my eye, though, were repeated posts from the owner of the company, Steve Hengsperger. On TreeHugger, he was actually responding to individual points made by the commenters. The same on Amazon. And even on the video post from "Busted" the Canadian investigative consumer show.
He's relentless - his comments are on Chow.com, Dr. Mercola's newsletter, and yes, he is even posting about his product on Rollitup.org, a forum for marijuana growers.
He's everywhere.
Meaning he's running Google searches for his product name and the words "ozone", which is a key component to his product.
He's savvy, I'll give you that, more so than any other company owner I've seen. And he's obviously passionate about his brand and his products.
The question remains, will all this public dialogue actually really pay off in dollars and cents?
I don't know, but I'd love your opinion.
I will tell you this much, his discussion in the TreeHugger forum prompted what has to be one of the most polite posts I've ever seen in a heated blog debate:
"I'm still undecided about the validity of the unit and its safety, I will continue to research. I do appreciate that Mr. Hengsperger is responding individually to the concerns expressed. (His bias notwithstanding.) I'm more convinced of his sincerity than Dow claiming that using methane to power their poison-manufacturing plant amounts to environmental friendliness.
And thanks for this forum to explore these options." - Ewan Wadharmi
Though I guess I should expect a certain amount of politeness.He is, after all, from Canada.
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