The power of a copy: Buying the only vacuum in the world
“The only vacuum cleaner in the world.” This sales copy alone compelled me to buy the highest-grade Dyson vacuum, despite having zero interest in home electronics or cleaning itself. Sales copies are indeed powerful; they control our behaviors so easily.
Anyway, am I satisfied with the cleaner? Yes, completely. I take my hat off to their innovations.
However, let me be clear: I don’t evaluate Dyson based on technical or functional superiority. To be honest, I don’t think it’s significantly more useful or sophisticated than other vacuum cleaners in terms of raw functionality. What I value most is that it’s just fun to use. I believe this transformation of a chore into entertainment is the core achievement of their innovation. In other words, Dyson has utterly re-defined the vacuum cleaner.
The ugly truth: Dyson is high-maintenance
As most people know, Dyson vacuum cleaners do not use a dust bag. The founder, James Dyson, often boasts of this as the biggest advantage of his innovation. But I must tell you, it is not useful at all. No matter how careful you are, dust inevitably floats in the air when you empty the transparent case.
Furthermore, think about it: How often do you truly change a dust bag in an ordinary cleaner? Is it that bothering? Making matters worse, Dyson users are required to wash the filter periodically. The ugly truth is that Dyson is often higher-maintenance than many ordinary, bagged vacuum cleaners.
(The irony is, we buy an innovative product, only to find ourselves doing more manual chores.)
The entertainment factor: Ghostbusters vs. Housework
Don’t get me wrong; I genuinely like my Dyson because it more than makes up for the usability disadvantages.
In my opinion, the biggest advantage of the Dyson vacuum cleaner is not the no-dust-bag structure itself, but the transparent dust case that the structure enables. We feel a heightened sense of catharsis by directly seeing the physical result of our cleaning action—the swirling dirt and hair.
Another brilliant feature is the ON/OFF trigger. It looks exactly like a gun trigger, and the cleaner activates only when you pull it. Every time I use it, I feel like I’m a hit man on a mission or a member of the Ghostbusters team. Again, I like my Dyson vacuum cleaner because it’s entertainment.
Redefining cleaning as catharsis
Our lives are already sufficiently efficient. For many purchases, effectiveness or efficiency is no longer the most important factor influencing our purchasing behavior. As I said, Dyson re-defined the vacuum cleaner, but more precisely, they re-defined “cleaning” itself.
Dyson seemed to notice that we clean up not just for a tidy life, but for the catharsis we feel by witnessing our action create a visible effect. They leveraged human psychology over pure engineering.
The same ambition drives us at CondeHouse. We aim to re-define “sitting.” We haven’t yet reached the definitive answer, but our goal is to achieve something ambitious and unique enough to make our chairs completely different from existing ones.
The question is: Can we make a chair that is as fun and cathartic to sit in as the Dyson is to clean with? (Perhaps we should add a trigger that makes a cool sound every time you lean back.)
Shungo Ijima
He is travelling around the world. His passion is to explain Japan to the world, from the unique viewpoint accumulated through his career: overseas posting, MBA holder, former official of the Ministry of Finance.