Humans Play 'Dirt Balls' for Stanley Steemer

Wacky pair reveals cleaning blind spots in every home

“I’ve seen whole dirt ball families wiped out. One minute, you’ve got an entire grout palace of Italian tile. The next… Not a spore in sight.”

And so it goes for the stars of Stanley Steemer’s latest campaign. They portray “The Dirt Balls”—bits of household detritus livin’ the good life in carpets and air ducts.

They laugh at mops, sprays and vacuums. Only Stanley Steemer’s cleaning service fills their filthy hearts with dread.

The characters “represent the dirt you don’t see,” says George Ellis, owner and creative director of Bandolier Media, which developed the campaign “There’s a real gap between what may feel clean and what is actually clean. ‘The Dirt Balls’ brings that to life in a way that’s entertaining and impossible to ignore.”

The cartoonish performances are annoying. But so are real dirt balls. So, the approach feels on point. Strident and weird—how else can actors play crud?

The clips bowed a few weeks back on Stanley Steemer’s YouTube channel, with support across social and interactive platforms.