If you listened to me last Sunday on the Cloth Diapers Rock radio show from The Feminist Breeder then you know part of what is coming up for #operationfluffy.  If you didn’t listen, you should anyway just to hear Gina and I blab about cloth diapers etc.

June 8 I will be filming an awesome video of babies dancing in embroidered cloth diaper covers (donated by Kelly’s Closet!) with the phrase “Cloth. Dance. Ellen.” on the butt.  The diapers are being embroidered by Bottombumpers.  Mandi from Jillian’s Drawers is letting me invade her community room which is housed in her brand new store in Ithaca, NY.  I will be filming the babies there.  Where am I getting all of these babies?  I have asked some local residents in Ithaca to let me borrow their children.  My own son will be dancing as well!

I have something even more awesome for the video planned that is sure to make Ellen smile.  It involves a Shake Weight and babies.  You will have to wait and see if I can pull that off!

Once the video is finished I am sending it to her along with some custom embroidered diapers.  She is getting a Bottombumpers AIO with “Cloth. Dance. Ellen.” on the butt and her niece, Eva, is getting her own custom diaper with an appliqued cupcake and her name on the back.  I will also be including a few other brands of diapers in the box to show her how amazing modern cloth diapers are.

I am really excited about what is coming up.  Even if we don’t get the diapers or the video on her show, rest assured it will get some traffic on YouTube.  And any exposure for cloth diapers is great!

I have been a busy bee lately and  wasn’t able to post this earlier!  Join me tonight for The Feminist Breeder’s radio show airing at 10 pm CST. That is 11 pm EST (I think, lol).

I’m sure there will lots being discussed about cloth diapers, and a little about #operationfluffy.  There are some updates that I might be able to share on the show that I haven’t revealed online yet!

If you  are up late listen in.  If not, you can catch the show later on at this link.  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thefeministbreeder/2010/05/17/cloth-diapering-is-cool

And please, for those who tune it, ignore my southern accent.

With close to 300 lovely mamas tweeting to Ellen last night it was easy to get lost! We had at least 4,000 tweets yesterday!  Our goal was to bombard Ellen with facts about cloth diapers and show her how adorable they are.  I think we did that, and then some. Unfortunately we didn’t trend, but that wasn’t for lack of trying!  We just happened to be the same night as a big game.  Now I am going to show you some of my favorite tweets!  For a detailed look check out What the Hashtag!

The Funny Tweets!

The Good Idea Tweets.

The, Yeah, Good Point, Tweets.

The Oh So True Tweet.

The Mantra!

And finally, the all about me tweets!

A HUGE thank you to The Eco Chic for hosting the party and to the people who helped promote it.  Kelly’s Closet and Rumparooz both sponsored some giveaways to gain more attention.

There is still work to be done!  Keep an eye out for more updates!

Don’t forget to be at the #operationfluffy party on Twitter tonight at 9 PM EST.

Are you ready?

• Have you uploaded your fluffy photos to Twitpic.com to tweet @TheEllenShow?
• Have you figured out how to use Tweetgrid.com to be able to follow the chat? (party tutorial)
• Have you signed up to follow @KimRosas and @TheEcoChic?
• Have you told your kids to be in bed on time?  (This is a biggie for me, my son has been a night owl lately!)
• Have you told all of your friends to be there?
• Have you prepared yourself for a ton of fun?

If you have done all of the above then you are ready for a party!

I wish wish wish I could tell you what I am working on in regards to #operationfluffy.  It is top secret but all kinds of awesome! It involves custom embroidered diapers, dancing, video, and fun!

See you tonight!

@TheEcoChic has posted all of the details on her website.  She was kind enough to host this party even though it was supposed to be her week off!

Synopsis:

Thursday night we will all be tweeting to @TheEllenShow using the #operationfluffy hashtag.  We will send pictures of our adorable babies in cloth diapers and tell her how much better cloth is than “jean” huggies.  PUKE!

I did want to add, to make it easier to tweet pictures, use the twitpic.com service.  Upload your photos ahead of time to make the party more about tweeting and less about searching for and uploading pictures.  The pictures will show up without having to click them if you use Tweetgrid.com for the party.  If you need help learning how to do Twitter parties, I have a little tutorial for you.

If you belong to a cloth diaper board (Cloth Diaper Nation, Diaperswappers, The Bump, Cafemom, BabyCenter, etc…) I would love your help in spreading the word.  If you make a post about #operationfluffy’s Twitter party you get (5) extra entries into a giveaway of your choice!  I have 2 ending today (Real Nappies and Bravado) so if you want entries in those you should hurry up!)  Or, if you have another idea to spread the word give me a shout and I will let you know if it counts towards extra entries!

To get those entries leave a comment with the link on this post and leave (5) comments on the giveaway of your choice also linking to your post.  Say something like “Extra Entries #operationfluffy post” and leave your link!

If you haven’t already, go join our “Get Cloth Diapers on The Ellen Show” page on Facebook.

This page has lots of members but we always need more.  Be sure when you join to invite your cloth diaper loving friends.

There is a rumor that an #operationfluffy Twitter bomb is going to be planned for next week with the help of @Ecomommedia (Eco-Friendly Twitter Party Planner).  She was able to get #diapershops trending 2 weeks ago.  What about #operationfluffy?

For this to really work we need more people involved than are on Twitter.  Once the plans are finalized I would love members of cloth diaper boards like Baby Center, DiaperSwappers, Cloth Diaper Nation, The Bump, CafeMom, Justmommies, DiaperPin, etc to try and get people involved in the party.  If they knew how awesome the #clothdiapers community was, they would want to be on Twitter anyway!

If you remember, we launched a Twitter, blog, and video campaign called #operationfluffy to convince The Ellen Show to feature modern cloth diapers on the show.  The campaign had hundreds of people involved who tweeted and taped their babies dancing for our You Tube video of babies in cloth.

Then I got word from a diaper maker who was told they would be on The Mother’s Day show.  I was happy and sad.  I was happy to see cloth diapers on the show but sad only one type and brand would be presented.

Unfortunately, cloth diapers were bumped because Huggies stepped in with their ridiculous “cloth like” jean diapers.  You know what else is like cloth? CLOTH.

And, lets be honest.  Even if you use disposables, how ridiculous are these?  It makes baby girls look like hoochie mamas in cut off booty jean shorts.  And boys, well, erm, I am not gonna touch that with a ten foot pole.  But lets just say it looks ridiculous.

I am torn.  I was under the impression Ellen was very green.  She said on her show “If there’s one thing that all babies need — it’s diapers, and lots of ‘em!”  Not really.  12-36 in total will do, none of which end up in the landfill.  A friend suggested I tally up how many diapers Ellen gave away which will then end up in the landfill.  The entire audience received a 6 month supply of Huggies.

I was not able to find concrete numbers as to how many seats the studio holds.  I did find an account of a woman who attended the show who knew that there are a guaranteed 150 seats for out of town guests.  Meaning there are more than 150.  I am going to guess there are another 100 seats, for my purposes.  Maybe more, maybe less.

250 audience members received a 6 months supply of Huggies.

The average baby goes through 8 diapers a day.

That baby will use 1,456 diapers in that time frame.

So lets say Huggies gives those families 1,456 diapers.

Multiply that by 250 guests.

Ellen essentially put 364,000 diapers into a landfill.*

These guests could have had cloth diapers!  In a perfect world that would have kept 364,000 diapers out of the trash.

Like I said, I am dissapointed.  I understand she is running a business and Huggies poured millions into her show in the form of advertising.  Cloth diaper companies, even the biggest, couldn’t do that.

Ellen, we want you to think about the influence you have on the country.  Think of the good you can do for environment if you promote the use of cloth.

You can tell The Ellen Show how you feel.

Tweet your comments (please be nice) to @TheEllenShow and use the hashtag #operationfluffy.

*I pulled these numbers from the air based on guesses.  Obviously that is not a correct number.  But it is demonstrative of how many diapers will be thrown away by those parents.

I know you have been dying to know if there has been an update.

And there has been, sort of.

I have not been contacted by the show directly.  I know they are aware of our efforts, that is all I can say on that.

I was clued in by a cloth diaper manufacturer after the campaign began that they have been working with producers from The Ellen Show for quite some time.  I asked that they keep in touch with me on the matter.  I was very recently updated with the following information:

This brand is all but confirmed to be included on the Mother’s Day edition of The Ellen Show!

The great news is that cloth diapers, at least one brand that I am aware of, will be on the show.  Frankly, I would like to see more variety, and that could still be a possibility, but one is good enough for me.  And, in case you are wondering, I cannot tell you the brand.  When they are ready to announce I’m sure I will be able to divulge.  For now just know they were not directly involved with #operationfluffy.

There is no way of knowing if #operationfluffy had anything to do with their decision.  I would certainly like to think so considering that our campaign was very well timed in coordination with this brand’s talks with the show.  We sent thousands of tweets, and that can’t go unnoticed by her staff.

I am still lobbying for a larger spotlight.  You can continue to join me if you want, or be completely content knowing there will be a brand of cloth diapers on the show.

I am more than proud of the work everyone put into the campaign.  The YouTube video is already close to 1,500 views.  It will continue to spread the message of cloth diapers!

I am sincerely grateful for the passion you have all shown for #operationfluffy.  Even as this is coming to a close, it is important to remember that we can always be doing something to promote cloth diapers, be it online or in our local community!

Share your enthusiasm for the cause by joining the “I Want Cloth Diapers on The Ellen Show” Facebook Group!  It was just created today and already we have close to 150 members!  Once you sign up be sure to tell the friends you think might want to see them on the show too! 

And, on Twitter I am asking those working on #operationfluffy to change your avatar to one of the pictures I have photoshopped of Ellen in cloth diapers.  If you want a picture of your baby with her face, tweet it to me and I might be able to do that.  Wouldn’t that grab your attention?!?!  Thanks to The Eco Chic for the idea!

And, if you have a blog, take a moment to grab this button to share the love!  Right click to save the image then you can link to: http://dirtydiaperlaundry.com/index.php?s=%23operationfluffy  I am not going to try doing to code this time, it was a disaster last time!  Gos Speed!