[Karakth]

...the way chemistry is exploited in marketing?

During a commercial break, I see on average at least 3 adverts for beauty products. The one thing they all have in common? A woman prancing about and vague references to chemicals.

What irritates me is that average people (towards whom these products are aimed) do not have any idea what the chemicals are, let alone the effect of having them in these products. But then how do these seemingly random inclusion of scientific terminology help sell products?

It's an insane society we live in, I tell you.

[Donaldson Tan]

the scientific jargons make the consumer think the product actually works better than products which don't sound scientific. It's just about presentation. Nothing real at all. LOL. Buy cosmetics at your own risk

 

[Mitch]

Best if they are tried on animals first, to make sure its safe for human use.

[Karakth]

Heh I saw a commercial yesterday with the following words at the bottom:

Tested on 200 women

I suppose if they don't want testing on animals they should face the consequences...  

[jdurg]

I once got into a VERY heated discussion with this woman who was into all that 'herbal home remedies' and other bulls&$# that people use nowadays.  She said that everything there was 'natural' which is better for you than anything synthetic.  She failed to realize that the stuff made in a lab is EXACTLY THE SAME as the stuff you get from a plant.  There is absolutely no chemical difference.  She disagreed but I finally got even.  I took some poison ivy and gave it to her crushed up into a paste and told her that it was an herbal supplement while I was going to take a chemical vapor rub and rub it on my skin while she rubbed the herbal paste on her skin.  She quickly changed her mind about all things that are natural are 'better'.  

[movies]

My favorite comeback to those people who claim that "all natural" is better than synthetic is that arsenic is 100% natural too!

[Karakth]

The single most stupid advert I have ever seen said that the product contained "No chemicals"

Btw nice one jdurg

[lemonoman]

No chemicals....lol

I always have a good chuckle when a beauty agency makes up a new chemical, be it through Research, R&D, or whatever, and it has a really scientific name.  But then they get to go and call it whatever they want at their 'tradename'

I forget exactly what made me think of ths, but it was probably something like, "This beauty cream contains patented regeneraphols" or something.

They're passing legislation about what's low-carb and what's not....is it time to pass legislation about what you can name your chemical? (Hope not, it'd be incredibly hard to enforce )

[Oldtimer]

I think they do need to regulate the cosmetic industry on the use of Invented words. Jargon gets us nowhere, if the stuff is really good - then fine. Trade names are common in every industry.

But the word is better serving if it isn't a 'magical' sounding one. We may need to look it up years down the road for some unknown reason and imaginery words just make it tougher if the company has gone out of business by then.

They used to sell products with diesel fuel or benzene in it because it made your skin 'tingle'. Look what we have learned about those items.

[Karakth]

I'm not sure how the patenting system works exactly, but wouldn't revealing the real name of a chemical be sort of like giving it away to your competitors?

Calling a chemical something like, "Makesulookyoungenol" is kind of devious...Your competitors get a tiny hint (i.e. It's an enol), an idea of what it does, but are left scratching their heads as to what it actually is. Annoying, isn't it?  :devil: