If you know absolutely nothing about a product you are looking to buy, but you know that you need that kind of product, then the guideline is usually the price. The idea is that the more expensive the product we buy, the better quality are the results we get. Sometimes that idea is exactly true, but not if you are buying shampoo.
If you look closely at the labels on these shampoo bottles, you will notice that the first ingredient in shampoo is water. It may be purified water or just plain tap, but the point is that it is water. Ingredients on beauty products are always listed in descending order of weight and, for the most part, these ingredients are all the same no matter what brand shampoo you are buying. Regardless of the price, somewhere between 90 and 95 per cent of the ingredients on these labels are going to be identical. Perfume and color are what often distinguish one shampoo from another, not miracle additives. And if you are thinking what about all those lovely natural extracts you also see listed—sunflower oil, mint, citrus extracts and so on?
Such additives will probably only be present as less than 1 per cent of the overall amount.
In other words, that is like adding a drop of whisky to water and calling it a cocktail. So then why do we feel pressured to buy the fancier, more expensive shampoo bottles over the cheaper, store brand shampoo?
You can pay $22 for a luxury shampoo like Bumble & Bumble (oh yeah that is not an exaggerated price, people) or you can pay $5 for a plainer brand. While you may think the pricier the shampoo, the shinier the locks, you are really just buying the same shampoo only from a different manufacturer in a different kind of bottle, maybe one with more sparkles on it. Either way, I am pretty sure that the original purpose for shampoo was to wash your hair, not to smell like a cupcake.
Besides, this guy seems to have long, strong hair and I highly doubt he is lining up to buy Bumble & Bumble… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXc6ncfEkX0
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/education/edlife/edl-17notebook-t.html
ReplyDeleteYou could say the same for college. Isn't this what an expensive tuition implies? Quality and exclusiveness? Top-tier? What if an education here at Hamilton cost the same as one from a community college? The price implies that Hamilton would be of a lower caliber. Fortunately, the need-blind policy here balances out many inequalities. This however, does not solve the problem of the increase in costs. So, UNfortunately, we remain victims of believing in that "you get what you pay for."
Your story of shampoo and how it’s advertised in stores reminds me of a discussion I had in my English class junior year of high school. My teacher talked about how shampoo commercials manipulate viewers into buying shampoo by making it seem as if that brand will make you the happiest person possible. Shampoo commercials often show a happy, young, good-looking person taking a shower with sun streaming in the window, usually to a light, happy song. As my teacher said, they know how to make a menial task such as shampooing your hair look like the time of your life.
ReplyDeleteThese commercials not only play on audio and visual imagery, but on our sense of taste. A particular dove commercial I once saw comes to mind. Promoting a new citrus mint scent, the classic shower scene was interrupted by snippets of images of fresh lemons and mint leaves with clear water being poured on top of them. Of course, these shots also play on our sense of taste, and the satisfied breath that the commercial grants along with these images presents the shampoo as an item that will not only make you extremely happy and clean, but also oddly enough, as an item that could satisfy hunger. When de-constructed like this, advertisements seem strange, yet somehow they work, because everyday we witness their successes as we see people using these products.