Here’s a question that plagues me: If company’s want us to practice “brand
loyalty” why don’t they make the same things two years in a row, so we can
become invested in the product?
This morning I used the last of a small pot of eye shadow
that I’ve had for some time. I like the
shade, the texture and the wear ability of this product. In spite of that, I won’t bother going back to the makeup
counter because I’m sure since I purchased this small container the
color palette for eye shadows has changed a hundred times and has been “new and
improved” just as often. The only way to
beat the system is to buy six of anything you like because you’ll never find it
again.
Before “branding” came to mean top of the mind awareness for
the company and not the product things were much simpler. I remember mom always bought Ivory soap. We didn’t know who made it, but it had to be
Ivory soap because it was 99.9% pure (pure what we didn’t question) and it
doubled as a bath toy because it floated.
My mom was susceptible to that advertising because her blue-eyed, blonde
haired little girl (namely me) developed skin rashes just my saying the
words. Ivory soap never changed; I can
still the delightfully creamy scent and see the blue and white wrapper in my mind’s eye today.
Another must have at our house was Prell shampoo. What was not to love? It was shamrock green liquid in an hour-glass
bottle. I remember the time they put a
plastic pearl in the bottle and it moved around in the lovely green liquid as
mom poured the shampoo onto my hair. Now
that’s marketing.
Today everything is new and improved, bigger and thicker and
faster, battery operated and less fattening. The packaging changes all the time; often
I’ll overlook something I want to buy because it doesn’t look familiar. I can’t
become attached to a product because it’s gone from the shelves before I have
an opinion…good or bad. In the ancient
past we just assumed it was as good as it could ever be, and on the shelf it
always looked the same. My whole
childhood was one, long, Ivory soap commercial.
With all the problems we have today this isn’t an earth-shattering
change…. just disconcerting. All those
years ago shopping with mom meant picking up the things we always used and
trusted. If there was something written
on the packaging, we never knew it.
Today the must-read label information is almost overwhelming…. country
of origin, ingredients (listed in order of included amount) and nutritional
information. They want me to know if it’s
been produced in a plant that processes peanuts, whether the plastic bottle
is PBA free, and if the product can be microwaved. I’m sure there are other
things I could find out if I was just smart enough to decipher the small print. Oh, and don’t forget to check your product
alerts before you go shopping so you don’t buy something that’s been recalled
for some life-threatening reason.
Whether or not you believe life was better in the “good old
days” you must agree life was simpler because we were simpler. We believed what we were told about products
and we stuck with them year after year.
I don’t necessarily think I want to go back to those days, I just want
to be able to buy an item I like and know it will be there when I return next
week. Well, that and I want my soap to
float……
Life is Good
