NEW AND IMPROVED!

Everyday we see commercials and advertisements, some brands even have advertise on the product its self.  Too often we just read/hear/see these new wild promises and take them for true, but how much actually needs to be true?

What brought this whole idea up for me was when I was watching a television commercial and the host said, as all hosts do, "just listen to this satisfied customer" and cue cut to random guy saying how much he loves the product…but wait I noticed just visible on his white shirt was white lettering saying "paid actor."  I was just told he was a customer?  I think it is interesting how as long as a disclaimer is added companies can get away with purposefully misdirecting their audience.  I wanted to look further into this and looked to the generic model of the "NEW AND IMPROVED" slogan used by so many companies.  After researching I found that "new and improved" is one slogan that in almost all cases increases overall sales to consumers.  However what does "new and improved" really mean?  I found my answers after some research, it means nothing.  "New" can pertain to anything about the product, it has been watered down, the packaging is different, the color of the box has changed, you get less for your money, anything.  "Improved" on the other hand is a matter of perspective so I could say the taste has improved, or the colors have improved, or the seller's profit has improved.  All of these claims are geared to take advantage of the consumer and purposely misdirect them, however companies can get away with it as long as there is a disclaimer or are vague enough to find a loophole.

I suppose the moral of the story I learned from my research was that we, as consumers, must be more skeptical about the claims made by companies and their products and that (unfortunately)  it may be up to us to decipher truth from fiction when it comes to advertisements.