In an engaging spot for its new double-size role of Royale toilet tissue, Procter & Gamble and agency Leo Burnett tell a tale of mystery and suspense. It’s a dark story that hangs over many seemingly happy families, The Mystery of the Empty Toilet Roll.

The scene is a sunny bathroom typical of commercial land. But this one has a few menacing shadows.

We open with eerie music and a distorted camera shot of Dad and the kids. They look bewildered and trepidatious.

Girl: ‘What is it?’

Dad: ‘I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it.’

Boy: ‘What’s it for?’

Dad: ‘I don’t know. Hey honey! You’d better come here. I think there’s something wrong.’

Then the camera cuts (you can almost hear the creaking attic door and see the cobwebs) to reveal the object of their perplexity: an empty toilet roll. The horror! The horror!

But the conundrum is soon to be solved. Is it Sherlock Holmes to the rescue? No, it’s Detective Mom.

The music changes to lighthearted jazz and a female v/o says: ‘Do you feel like you’re the only one who knows how to change a toilet paper roll?’ while Mom gives everyone a demonstration of the baffling mechanism’s modus operandi: Toilet paper roll. Holder. Put holder inside roll. Get it? Apparently not. Dad and the kids look stunned.

So just in case they never grasp the concept, Royale has come out with a new double-length roll to make Mom’s life easier.

Next lesson: putting down the toilet seat. (A watery shot looking up from the toilet bowl through the seat at the family looking clueless.) Good luck, Mom.

It’s a good spot. I hope the campaign lasts as long as the roll d’es.

Roll credits:

Procter & Gamble

Royale Double Roll ‘What is it?’

Director: Tenney Fairchild

Production house: Sparks Productions

Executive producer: Andy Crosbie

Line producer: Kelvin Fosberry

DOP: Gabor Tarko

Agency: Leo Burnett

Chief creative officer: Jeff Finkler

Art director: David Houghton

Copywriter: Rick Pregent

Agency producer: Tony de Sousa

Post-production house: Third Floor Editing

Editor: Barry McMann