China's 'Excreman' is trying to teach children to be humble (and sell their parents toilets)

A Japanese ceramics and plumbing company has built an extremely graphic but kid friendly installation in downtown Hong Kong to sell its newest product line.

To promote its new Neorest AH intelligent toilet, TOTO has constructed larger-than-life scenes from the life of Excreman, “an anthropomorphic pile of dung bearing a resemblance to a brown snowman,” UPI reports. Here’s Excreman’s fascinating backstory:

…Excreman was created 10 years ago by Brian Tse Lap-mun and Alice Mak Ka-bik and stars in a three-part book series about his life in the sewers and his dreams of being fertilizer for plants.

“Excreman may seem like a vulgar name, but it’s supposed to represent the humble nature of people on the lower rungs of society who have aspirations, but often find themselves bogged down by the realities in life,” the character’s Facebook page states.

Hong Kong Magazine has described the series as a, “Existentialist reflection on Hong Kong life, yet cute enough to appeal to young children,” which basically sums up the installation. Here are some photos from TOTO’s Facebook page:

And you won’t walk away empty handed, per UPI:

Visitors to the installation are being offered rolls of toilet paper branded with Excreman’s likeness and the words, “Excreman’s [expletive]-y garden — a fecal pleasure hunt and toilet roll.”

The toilets themselves are pretty neat. According to PerspectiveGlobal.com, where the toilets are being sold worldwide, the toilets come with:

• A sensor-activated toilet lid
• A nightlight
• A toilet that gets sprayed with electrolysed processed water

They’re going for $5,229 on Amazon.

Rob covers business, economics and the environment for Fusion. He previously worked at Business Insider. He grew up in Chicago.