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Name-brand vs. off-bransh (was: Rocket Science)
Ziggy writes:
Most people don't realize that they spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year buying the heavily advertised (HA) brand products in the grocery and department stores. Some people buy name-brand products out of ignorance. Others buy them because some of them are actually better. For example, I've yet to find any detergent, name-brand or otherwise, that works as well as Tide. Or, to comment on one of your examples... Why are you paying 4+ dollars for baby shampoo when you can buy the less advertised brand for half the money? I've got five kids. I've tried lots of name-brand and off-brand baby and kid shampoos. The name-brand ones are most certainly better, if for no other reason than because when they claim to be "no tears," it's actually true. If the name brand products are better why would companies be spending billions of dollars in advertising? Because they're competing primarily against each other, not against the off-brands. And because even when they are objectively better, no one is going to pay their higher prices unless they *know* they're objectively better. Sometimes advertising is about fooling the consumer into spending more than they need to. Sometimes, on the other hand, advertising is about providing the consumer with true information that will reasonably influence their purchasing their decisions. Advertising alone doesn't make for a sustainable business. Just look at Zima. It was one of the best advertising campaigns in history, which got a lot of people to try Zima exactly once, after which they decided they didn't like it and went back to whatever beer they were drinking before. Even over the counter drugs like aspirin can be bought for half the price of the HA brands. Off-brand pills are often larger and with thinner or nonexistent coatings and hence taste worse and are harder to swallow. Off-brand liquid medications often taste worse. There are certainly cases where the off-brand is no different from the name-brand products, but there are other cases where there *is* a difference and you get what you pay for. When you pay the higher price for the HA brands you are paying for the ridiculous high salaries of the CEO's, private jets, golden parachutes and for the billions spent on advertising. When you pay the higher price for a product that is actually better, you are paying for the fact that it is better. |
#2
Posted to misc.consumers.house
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Name-brand vs. off-bransh (was: Rocket Science)
Sun, 30 Aug 2009 01:31:40 +0000 (UTC) from Jonathan Kamens
: For example, I've yet to find any detergent, name-brand or otherwise, that works as well as Tide. /Consumer Reports/ concurs -- specifically, if I recall correctl;y, Cold-Water Tide with Bleach Alternative. -- Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA http://OakRoadSystems.com Shikata ga nai... |
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