Detergent has graphic that says 25% more-> marketing ploy?

[JEDI]

at walmart i saw that Purex detergent says 25% more in large font followed by 'than 50oz' in small font.

now at first, i thought of 25% free but nowhere on the bottle does it say free. it just says 25% more.

so i'm thinking you're just paying regular price for the regular sized bottle. or they changed the 50oz bottle to 62.5oz but charging you more.

'25% more' = marketing ploy?

 

[xanis]

Marketing ploy would be my guess.

 

[Jeff7]

They probably reduced the size of the container, and have done that to make it sound like a good thing.


This one really stands out in my mind though: Those 3 packs used to have a plastic wrapper around them, and that "Value 3 Pack" graphic was simply printed on the plastic; you received three tubes of equal size.
Someone at the company decided to really try to prove that they can be far better assholes than the competition, and made that "Value 3 Pack" out of a small empty box, purely with the intention of deceiving customers.
(I'm sure their PR/Marketing department would publicly say that deception is not the intent, to which I would like to kindly invite them to walk into an active volcano.)

 

[Matthiasa]

I am not sure bout detergent, but some other products that say x% more actually have x% more the same cost. To notice that though one would have to actually be paying attention to prices and volumes of the product.
Note that it might also mean it was watered down to increase the volume.

 

[jagec]

Well, duh. What else would it be?

 

[HendrixFan]

It varies. Sometimes it is just a marketing ploy but other times they do that in place of a large sale or coupon event. Just look at the price per oz that is usually found on the pricetag.

 

[DrPizza]

They know that the average American is functionally innumerate. Thus, marketing ploy. It's even more amazing when sometimes the larger size costs more per ounce. I see that very frequently.

And, before I forget, I've got to remember to take my camera with me to the grocery store to get a nice photo to use in the consumer math class. Glass bottles of pepsi for only 99 cents! Or, "Great deal: 4 for $3.99!" I shop there all the time & know quite a few (most) of the store employees. I asked one of the assistant managers, "so, which one of you has the anal attentive fixation on making bargain prices end in .99?"

 

[jagec]

They know that the average American is functionally innumerate. Thus, marketing ploy. It's even more amazing when sometimes the larger size costs more per ounce. I see that very frequently.

And, before I forget, I've got to remember to take my camera with me to the grocery store to get a nice photo to use in the consumer math class. Glass bottles of pepsi for only 99 cents! Or, "Great deal: 4 for $3.99!" I shop there all the time & know quite a few (most) of the store employees. I asked one of the assistant managers, "so, which one of you has the anal attentive fixation on making bargain prices end in .99?"

Well, since we've already proven on this forum that .99... = 1, those bottles of Pepsi are one for $1 or four for $4. Sure, there's no bulk discount, but the math works out.

 

[QueBert]

could be more for free, I know the Pringles I bought last week said 20% more, it was the same price as before but the can definitely had 20% more in it.

 

[techs]

They know that the average American is functionally innumerate.

And apparently the average American had to look that word up.

<
<
Average American.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

I noticed the "Family Size" (17oz) Doritos have been replaced with "Party Size" (16oz) for the same price.

 

[SagaLore]

Yea I hate that. I wish psychological manipultations were banned from any kind of packaging. Should only have brand name, size, contents. Only picture allowed should be of contents.

 

[Jeff7]

Yea I hate that. I wish psychological manipultations were banned from any kind of packaging. Should only have brand name, size, contents. Only picture allowed should be of contents.

"Enlarged and photoshopped to show texture and impossibly perfect manufacturing technique."
I've also seen some packages that have an asterisk next to some statement, but the rest of the package or product don't tell you what that asterisk was supposed to mean. I guess they've just stopped bothering, and the asterisk simply means, "We've just told you something that sounds good on the label, and makes the product sound appealing, but it's BS that our marketing department pulled out of their ass...because that's their job."

Also...
this

and

this.


Other sneaky stuff I've found: The dye/perfume-free detergents have something in them, either just one of the normal ingredients, or else a deliberate additive, that makes them fluoresce brightly. My own idea of it: "free of dyes" means "free of dyes that are visible to the naked eye, under normal lighting." So they can add things that only become visible under UV lighting - so if you've got a white shirt, the residual dye will make it appear really bright when you're outside in sunlight, or only slightly brighter if you're under fluorescent lighting.

 

[Sonikku]

could be more for free, I know the Pringles I bought last week said 20% more, it was the same price as before but the can definitely had 20% more in it.

Like hell it did. Pringles cans used to be a $1. Then they were for $1 but they didn't fill the can to the top leaving an inch of empty space for them to rattle and get thrown around with. They they made that pringle can size $1.50 and made a tiny tiny version of it that was $1. Still with the empty space. It's all a lie. At best it was 20% more for free versus what they were charging after they changed it. In all probability it was a worse value than what you could buy a year or two ago.

 

[Red Squirrel]

They probably reduced the size of the container, and have done that to make it sound like a good thing.


This one really stands out in my mind though: Those 3 packs used to have a plastic wrapper around them, and that "Value 3 Pack" graphic was simply printed on the plastic; you received three tubes of equal size.
Someone at the company decided to really try to prove that they can be far better assholes than the competition, and made that "Value 3 Pack" out of a small empty box, purely with the intention of deceiving customers.
(I'm sure their PR/Marketing department would publicly say that deception is not the intent, to which I would like to kindly invite them to walk into an active volcano.)

lol it's like the kitty litter buckets I buy, they recently reduced their size and it says "Now uses less plastic!". I'm all for saving the environment and stuff, but making the product smaller is not the way of doing that. Perhaps start using cardboard instead, now that would be good for the environment without screwing the end user. They just used the environment to get on people's touchy side so they completely overlook the fact that "yeah, we are giving you less but still charging you the same".

 

[SKORPI0]

It's a ploy to mislead the unaware shopper that they are getting more, percentage/volume wise.

This was done with an Ice Cream brand a few years ago. Same price but about 20% smaller.

 

[Craig234]

It's case by case. Sometimes, such as when the norm for a soft drink bottle was 16 ounces and some sold 20 ounce versions - 25% more - that was ''legitimate'.

Other times it's in effect a lie, when the 'more than what' question is meaningless just to get to say 'you get more!'

In the ice cream example above, yes, as companies face increasing costs, they had options:

- raise the price
- reduce the cost (i.e., the quality)
- reduce the size

They found in many cases that the option best for their sales was to keep the price, keep the quality, and reduce the size.

Of course, their competitors took advantage - note the Ben and Jerry's containers putting 'Still 16 ounces!' on the package. Nevermind they charge more for those ounces.

These aren't the worst marketing abuses by a long shot. There are a lot of very misleading messages advertisers use.

Implicatins for health benefits, trying to make the word 'organic' not meaning anything, and so on.

In another case, milk sellers tries to get laws passed prohibiting other selles from saying 'no growth hormones' on their labels, so their own products didn't look bad.

 

[jagec]

Other sneaky stuff I've found: The dye/perfume-free detergents have something in them, either just one of the normal ingredients, or else a deliberate additive, that makes them fluoresce brightly. My own idea of it: "free of dyes" means "free of dyes that are visible to the naked eye, under normal lighting." So they can add things that only become visible under UV lighting - so if you've got a white shirt, the residual dye will make it appear really bright when you're outside in sunlight, or only slightly brighter if you're under fluorescent lighting.

Yep, in an interesting way too.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

In another case, milk sellers tries to get laws passed prohibiting other selles from saying 'no growth hormones' on their labels, so their own products didn't look bad.

Ah yes, I hate this. I also hated when Lucerne added their "Our farmer's pledge not to use growth hormones" label. Using the word pledge is misleading IMO, and I take it to mean there may well be hormones after all. I don't buy their milk anymore.

 

[HeXen]

I could probably buy most every grocery item on Amazon or Ebay cheaper, yet I would much rather just physically go to the store and get it. I always look at the weight first then compare them to the prices.

 

[Leros]

There is a generic brand of toilet paper that claims to be "twice as soft". Doesn't say twice as soft as what though.

Also, the tag line for Diet Dr Pepper is something like "tastes more like regular Dr Pepper". Oh yeah? As compared to what?

 

[QueBert]

Like hell it did. Pringles cans used to be a $1. Then they were for $1 but they didn't fill the can to the top leaving an inch of empty space for them to rattle and get thrown around with. They they made that pringle can size $1.50 and made a tiny tiny version of it that was $1. Still with the empty space. It's all a lie. At best it was 20% more for free versus what they were charging after they changed it. In all probability it was a worse value than what you could buy a year or two ago.

I paid $1.58 for these Pringles last week, 2 years ago unless they were on sale I paid the same price. They had cans that weren't the "20% more" which were the exact same price.

 

[sdifox]

The great robbery that is Quantitative Easing in effect.

 

[Red Squirrel]

There is a generic brand of toilet paper that claims to be "twice as soft". Doesn't say twice as soft as what though.

Also, the tag line for Diet Dr Pepper is something like "tastes more like regular Dr Pepper". Oh yeah? As compared to what?

lol toilet paper also seems to like comparing themselves to "the bird brand". WTF is the bird brand? lmao. Also, softer means there's less in a roll.

It's like the aero bars "Now with more bubbles!" That means there's more air and less chocolate than before.

Or "Only 100 calories!" Yeah, because it's 1/3 of the size, for the same price.

 

[Jeff7]

There is a generic brand of toilet paper that claims to be "twice as soft". Doesn't say twice as soft as what though.

Also, the tag line for Diet Dr Pepper is something like "tastes more like regular Dr Pepper". Oh yeah? As compared to what?

"Now Richer & Creamier* - Among consumers with a preference."

So what does that really mean?
- Most of the people surveyed just didn't give a damn either way
- Most of the people surveyed couldn't tell the difference, but didn't really care