Good news! Gillette found a way to use more resources, add to the landfill, and drain your wallet at the same time! The disposable Good News razor did all three things at once!

In all fairness, Gillette was not the leading force behind this madness. Developed in response to the French BiC disposable, the Good News was little more than a Trac II head with a plastic handle. But it was successful, and managed to gain markets across the world. In part, I believe, do to a fairly hefty marketing campaign. A campaign that included these four short videos.

Only a quarter for a razor – about 1.20$ today – and good for a week of shaving according to the advertising. Sounds cheap, until you do the math. You would have needed 52 razors for a full year of shaving, which would have set you back 13$ in 1976. 13$ back then would be 61.50$ today. Shaving with Good News disposables would be a little under six times as expensive as with a Double Edged razor.

At least Disposables like the Good News don’t lock the shaver into a walled garden like Gillette tries to do with the various cartridge razors they sell. Nor does a disposable rely on the “razors and blade” model of sales, since each razor comes with blades and each blade come with a razor. But it costs more, adds to the landfill, and uses up more resources in manufacture, packaging and shipping. Is it worth it in exchange of not changing blades? I think not!