American Commercials. Are we being fooled?

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   brimancandyposted 12 years ago

   Something interesting happened today. My partner and I found a show on Netflix that featured actors from old television commercials. And, as we sat there watching these commercials I couldn't help but laugh at how stupid some of them were. But, even though a majority of them were from the 1950's and 60's I began to notice a familiar pattern.
   
   A lot of it had to do with laundry soaps and shampoos. For example, did you know that tide once had a special ingredient called XP? That was supposed to make your clothes whiter? Gee, they still make Tide, yet now it has oxyclean and special stain fighters. Usually a name that the company made up, ad, what happened to this XP? or the other special stain fighting ingredients that were advertised? Why did they add or remove them from their advertising. Could it be that they never existed? Yet we are duped into believing that it does, because we are not chemists? Or, have the abilty to see if it's true?
   
   Another product I laughed at was brill creme, which had a product that would make a man's grey hair glisten and shine. And, this product was supposed to be different than the original creme? Yet, the guys hair didn't look any different than it did when he used the other product.
   
   Funny thing that these commercials insist that this is something that we need to use. Like fabric softener sheets, which is relatively new. People buy them like crazy, but, is this something that we really need? They are constantly adding ingredients to those that we have never heard of, somehow making us think these products are better? Are they really?
   
   Watching these old commercials sure made me think. And, they say that television has no impact on your daily life. It most certainly does, and companies that sell lame products are making a fortune off it. Just watch TV on sunday, it's nothing but commercials for worthless junk, that millions of people buy every day. Only later to find out that the product is either being recalled, or there is a lawsuit pending to have it pulled from the market. Sometimes because someone else has a different version of the same product under a different company name, which is probably actually the same company under a corporate umbrella. I just found the whole thing disturbing.
   
   Any comments?

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      dutchman1951posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      XP stood for Extra Power, it was supposed to be a more concentrated detergent than the Old Tide, for extra cleaning power. Many folks bought it.

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      HoneyKissesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Of course we are being fooled   Most commercials are lies.  Straight and simple.  People are paid to persuade you to buy a companies product, and they will do whatever they can to sell it.  Same applies to fast food. This is one major reason I just unplugged my TV and havent watched in months. 
      
      I noticed this trend when I started buying make up.  You dont usually see make up from Clinique or Sephora advertised on tv, but drug store brands like Covergirl and Maybellene are the ones I know for a fact are found to be guilty of this.  Youd see an ad for a product of theirs that claims to fight aging and wrinkles or make your skin look flawless with this new amazing formula. Costs $6.  Then 2 months later, there are new ads that replace the old that claim that theres a product that does the same thing as the previous, but is advertised to be better with this 'new state of the art technology'.  Costs $10.  But guess what.. I see no difference than the previous!  Waste of money.
      
      Truth probably is, they just exaggerate on what their product supposedly does for you.  They may have found another ingredient that makes the product better, but I dont even think they know what theyre doing a lot of the times.
      
      All they care about is staying in the game to make that money so they keep making something new and interesting to the viewer's eyes while they keep on lying, sadly, .... because it works.

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   wheelinalloverposted 12 years ago

   I have seen for years products which worked just fine being removed from the market for one reason or another. There are many I miss because they did what they were supposed to with no hype or commercials. The reason products have to be new and improved is because the original wasn't selling like the companies wanted them to. For the most part the reason for this is their commercials didn't take into consideration that there were other products out there which did the same thing and sometimes a better job. 
   
   An example of this is hair dye. The reason I bring this up is because it took over an hour of research to find one that would not harm my hair or the children who are around me constantly. My hair has been growing for three years to donate to Locks of Love in memory of my mother who died of brain cancer. If would have had to be dyed any time after I turned 19 because like my grandmother my hair started turning gray then. 
   
   All of the children here have been treated for lead toxicity in their case it was not hair dye, which until recently contained lead. Everyone here was warned not to use anything which contained lead around the children or they could be damaged permanently.
   
   I used to use tide all the time until they added the XP. The original was great for cleaning carpets and in steam cleaning machines for car engines and frames. In my case using tide to wash clothes was asking for disaster, both before and after XP was added.
   
   In my young life everything used was organic. When commercial products became part of my life it was like I was allergic to everything. To this day I can't even use a razor, any kind of tide detergent, I even have to be careful what kind of soap is used to wash the dishes. I have not been able to use deodorant my whole life. To this day if I want to smell good for any length of time I use shaving cream or Aloe Vera to wash with.
   
   I think the most important thing to remember is people survived without new and improved for thousands of years. For my ancestors everything was organic, or made from rocks. All biodegradable. This is how my early life was also, which could be why I was and still am allergic to most commercial products.
   
   I remember using corn meal to clean animal furs in my youth and leather jackets in later years. It worked better than any commercial product I have ever seen.
   
   Clothes are another thing that new and improved hasn't helped. When I was on a roof working or doing carpentry Levi's were the only pants that held up. I still have Levi's which are over twenty years old that have not torn or wore out. I won't even go into how many other types of jeans there were that didn't last a week.
   
   Tee shirts are another product which has gone down hill. When I was a young adult I had a favorite Tee shirt which I ended up wearing for 20 years. Now if one lasts a year I am shocked. Someone told me they make them to wear out faster now so you have to buy new ones.
   
   My last and final input, Vehicles, I had an old van which I drove cross country and back and forth to work for 14 years. The entire time I owned the vehicle my total expenses for repairs and which also includes the original price never exceeded $3000. This included fixing the dents and repainting after a girl friend crashed it.
   
   It was considered a full sized van yet always got a minimum of 24 miles per gallon and did 29 mpg on the highway. It also always tested better (California smog laws) at about half the allowable emissions consistently. While I owned it it was driven over 150,000 miles. Tell me any vehicle today that will even come close.
   
   So in my estimation yes we are being sold a bill of goods with commercials of all kinds.

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      brimancandyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Your post says it all. They used to say we have become a throw away society, but, that is true now more than ever. Everything is made as cheaply as possible, while the cost of buying that product continues to go up. And, we have more and more worthless products pushed at us every day. As some of the manufacturers of food, are also involved in the manufacturing of medicine.
      
      One that really irritates me is bottled water. Some people claim that it is a good thing for people where their  water might not be drinkable. That is true, but it is not going to do any good sitting stacked on grocery store shelves until it is past it's sell by date and they throw it out. And, almost everyone and their brother is slapping their own label on it to sell it. They also make claims that it is enriched with Vitamins and purified.
      
      One bottle water company got burned for selling nothing but tap water, thousands of cases of it. Then they had their spokes person claim that that was a human error. BS!! They were getting away with selling tap water until they got caught doing it. That company also manufactured bottled water sold under different company names then their own. Like major grocery chains who slap their own label on these goods, it's all the same water from the same company. Just like generic drugs.
      
      I just think there should be more truth, and less deception. especially on products that we put into or on our bodies. Probably one of the reasons why so many people are getting sick these days.

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