So you’ll have to accept my apology before I start this blog post. Well, I guess I should have apologized before you read the title. Oh well.

This post is about a product that swears. You can’t talk about this product without the “F” word. So while I try not to swear in real life, and I certainly never swear in my writing, there is no way around it this time. Watch the embedded video without little people around, and relax a bit when you hear the swear word. I promise it’s for a good cause. Well, or at least for some awesome marketing.

Josh and I haven’t really backed much of anything on Kickstarter before. It’s such a great platform and maybe we’ve put a bit of money towards the barbie NASA doll (what ever happened to that project?) and towards some hiking products. But then I saw this advertisement:

It was so funny and well played, so creative and inventive, that I just had to be part of it. I wanted a Great F*cking Bag! As you can tell from their final count, I wasn’t alone. They raised $1.1 million dollars when their original goal was $12,000. Wow! The bags are cute and have some great features – and the marketing just makes you think that you have to support these guys. Seriously.

So then, when I put my money in and waited, I wasn’t really sure how this would all work out. It’s hard to trust that these things will actually come to fruition. But indeed, it did, and I soon had emails coming weekly about the bag production, bag designs, waiting list timeline, etc. I had to select the fabric and colors that I wanted (talk about stress!) and then wait for the bag’s arrival.

But for me, that meant waiting a LONG time since I shipped it to family in the States who weren’t coming anytime soon. Ho Hum.

And finally, finally! my bag arrived in Israel (thank you Uncle Cary!) and I was so excited to tear open the packaging and to enjoy. It’s quite a substantial bag – something I think that I’ll use for travel more than for day-to-day activities. But I’m thrilled with my Great F*cking Bag and I feel like I was part of something fun.

Now, when I started Googling things about Använda to get some pictures and videos for this blog, I saw that many backers were terribly unhappy with the customer service and the bag. Wow – really unhappy. Since I wasn’t in a rush to get my bag and I’m really very easy to please with consumer products, I might not be the best judge.

I did enjoy the bag the one time that I’ve used it so far.

Now, that was quite a story.

We had a medical incident recently, and while Josh was being loaded into the ambulance, I ran inside to grab a few things to take to the hospital for our undefined stay. Wait – I thought to myself – I’ve got the perfect bag! Coming back outside to get into the front seat of the ambulance, I checked on Josh in the back and gleefully announced, “Look honey! I’m using my new bag!” While the medical team looked at me like I was insane (ok maybe a little bit), I did get a slight smile out of Josh. (And yes, everything will be ok.)

Hopefully, I’ll have the chance to use the bag for much happier occasions and I definitely enjoyed the Kickstarter experience. Have any of you been part of fun Kickstarter campaigns?