Date published: 01.09.08 - not release date

FAKE POO CRISIS HITS UK - NO REALLY!

The UK’s largest online retailer of joke items and costumes, SillyJokes, has revealed that there's a crisis in the fake poo market that has led to a global shortage of quality products and problems for international charities.

Although it is hard to believe, fake poo is a consistently high seller in the joke item retail industry and a global shortage of quality providers has led to a crisis that has affected more than just the comedy market.

Whilst fake poo remains the schoolboys favourite practical joke it is also used to highlight serious messages by organisations such as WaterAid, an international charity, who use them to raise awareness of 2.6 billion people in the world today who are without any form of sanitation.

WaterAid buys all of its fake poo from SillyJokes who are one of the first companies to identify that the wave of inferior fake poo that is flooding the UK market from Chinese and Thai based factories was being returned by buyers for not being realistic enough.

With November 19th being World Toilet Day fake poo is an integral part of WaterAid’s campaigning work which aims to ensure policies are in place to enable the world’s poorest people have access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene education.

SillyJokes has tracked down the problem to the fact that when the UK’s last remaining large-scale fake poo maker closed due to retirement the foreign imports quickly increased their market share but their inferior quality then led to high returns from unsatisfied customers.

Dog and cat homes across the UK are also affected as fake dog poo is commonly used to help house train pets and make them more suitable for family homes.

Caroline Creasey is the MD of SillyJokes and she commented,

“I have spent months trying to not only source good quality fake poo but also trying to raise awareness of the fact that there's a shortage and people do honestly use it for serious reasons such as WaterAid”.

Jennean Alkadiri, WaterAid’s Campaigns Manager commented,

“ I don’t know what we’d do if we didn’t have a regular supplier of fake poo! The ever popular WaterAid game, the ‘Poopla’ raises awareness of how lucky we are in this country to have a toilet while 1000's of children die each day elsewhere in the world because of diseases that are spread from lack of toilets. We need fake poos to change the world!’

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For further info contact:

Andy, andy@10yetis.co.uk or 01452 527898 or,
Caroline Creasey – SillyJokes - 01327 828205
Or visit; SillyJokes

•SillyJokes started in 1999 selling Remote Controlled Fart Machines from a back bedroom and is now a multi-million pound business, with a funny side!

•SillyJokes holds the world record for the largest whoopee cushion ever made, as featured on BBC Television and Radio 1.

•SillyJokes is the UK’s leading retailer of practical jokes and fancy costume items and its website attracts tens of 1000's of new visitors every day.

•SillyJokes products have featured on a number of TV and Radio programs and are the practical joke and prop aid to many high profile celebrities and production companies such as BBC, Tiger Aspect and the Metropolitan Police.

•SillyJokes has won National and Regional eCommerce awards in 2004 and 2005.

•For more information on WaterAid contact Charlotte Godber: 020 7793 4909 or e-mail charlottegodber@wateraid.org

•WaterAid's vision is of a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation. www.wateraid.org

•WaterAid is a member of the End Water Poverty campaign – demanding sanitation and water for all. www.endwaterpoverty.org

•2.6 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation, this is roughly two fifths of the world's population.

•Water-related disease is the second biggest killer of children worldwide, after acute respiratory infections like tuberculosis.

•One gram of human faeces can contain 10,000,000 viruses, 1,000,000 bacteria, 1000 parasite cysts, 100 parasite eggs. (UNICEF)