Last week, the folks over at BoingBoing linked to a fascinating photo set that seemed to reveal the true nature of a travel-sized can of Gillette Series shaving gel. The can's label started to peel and revealed an underlying sticker for Gillette for Women Satin Care gel. (Here are the before and after shots.) Had Gillette simply repackaged a poorly-selling female product for the men's market?

Gelf was immediately on the lookout for a hoax. After all, the man who posted the photos, Todd Lappin, is the founder of Telstar Logistics, a company that was set up solely so that Lappin could park his van in unloading zones in busy parts of San Francisco. (He goes into more detail here.) But Lappin's follow-up replies to commenters seemed too earnest to be false—"And oddly, I've also been overcome with cravings to watch Oprah," he tacked on to a reply to an inquiry as to the silky-smooth state of his legs—so Gelf turned its investigation towards The Gillette Company.

Was Gillette really selling the same product under different labels, or was this, as one commenter suggested, a controversy concocted by the company to create a sophisticated form of viral marketing? As it turns out, neither is correct. After Lapin's post, Gelf spoke with Shani Jarvis, a representative from Porter Novelli who handles PR for Gillette, and asked her to look into the story. Here's the message that Jarvis sent back today from Gillette:

Occasionally, our manufacturing facilities encounter an excess in containers used for packaging one particular product. Rather than discarding these containers, the packaging may be re-labeled and used for another product. This is done in accordance with Gillette's commitment to the environment; whenever possible, we reuse and/or recycle materials used in manufacturing. This does not modify, nor does it affect the ingredients or characteristics of the product. The consumer can be assured he purchased the intended product marked on the label.

No hoax. No conspiracy. Just a commitment to recycling. What a shame.