Enter, The Hand Sanitizer

I've made two trips to Dallas in the last couple of weeks, and I live in Manhattan.  The Ebola scare has certainly been top-of-the-media in both markets, and you can't possibly escape the nonstop coverage.

In our media-driven world, that's a given.

But there's another side effect of the situation that's equally as noticeable and once again changing our behaviors ... hand sanitizer.

It seems like the hand sanitizer comes in and out of favor, as our awareness and paranoia for infectious conditions rises and falls.

Literally, everywhere I went in the Dallas area there were bottles and pumps of hand sanitizer.  And now that New York City is on alert, they are popping up all over the city here as well.

I hadn't seen them since the last time we were worried about such things ... If I remember correctly it was the swine flu.

It's almost as if the hand sanitizer is a barometer for our depth of concern over catching something dangerous.  Like a thermometer of sorts.  We are worried now about Ebola, so enter the hand sanitizer.

As a result, I'd wish they'd go away!  I'm sure we all do!

Of course, the interesting part is that the branding doesn't seem to be an important part of the mix.  Sure, there are brands in the equation, but they don't seem to be driving the solution ... just reacting to public sentiment.

Is there a perceivable difference in the products?  Is there a role for branding here, especially when emotions run so high?  

What's your experience?  JIM.