It’s not the usual Match.com profile: Meet Rip the Drip, he “was born under the water sign Pisces, and is an assistant shift manager at a local water park. He enjoys taking long showers, listening to running faucets and opening fire hydrants. ... His favorite movie is Waterworld—which he has seen 786 times—and he dreams of one day visiting Niagara Falls.” Rip is the face of a new public service campaign called “Wasting Water is Weird” but while well-intentioned, the ads aren't just weird, they're creepy.

The gist of the campaign is that Rip, dressed in an undershirt and boxers, “shows up” in your bathroom or kitchen if you’re wasting water by running a half empty dishwasher or letting the water run while you brush your teeth. Once the homeowner is “exposed to Rip,” the press release says, “they realize they are wasting water—and that wasting water is weird—so they abruptly stop.” Ya think?

But there’s no escaping Rip. He has his own Facebook page and you can follow him on Twitter @RipTheDrip. There’s even RipTheDrip computer wallpaper and cell phone ring tones. And, of course, he has his own YouTube channel.

Rip is the brainstorm of a coalition that includes Kohler, Lowe’s, Bosch home appliances, Procter & Gamble and the WaterSense program of the Environmental Protection Agency. By being edgy, the group hopes to get consumers thinking about looming freshwater shortages. “We need Americans to take personal responsibility and shift their behaviors from passively thinking about how to save water to proactively taking action, such as installing high-efficiency toilets, showerheads and faucets,” says Rob Zimmerman, Kohler’s water conservation and sustainability manager.

At Consumer Reports we’ve tested water-saving toilets and showerheads. In our toilet tests, we recommended two dual-flush models—the Gerber Ultra Dual-Flush DF-21-318 and the Mansfield EcoQuantum 148-119—that use 1.6 gallons and 1.1 gallons per flush. Both were excellent at solid waste removal but the Mansfield was better at removing liquid waste.

Standard showerheads use 2.5 gallons of water per minute (gpm) and in our showerhead tests, we tried some that use less. Testers described the water-saving American Standard FloWise Dual Function, $50, as refreshing and stimulating even with a 2-gpm flow rate. But all other water-saving models scored only middling on how the shower felt overall.

Saving water isn’t the only benefit of switching to a lower-flow shower or toilet—it’ll also keep Rip out of your bathroom.