Snuggle fabric softener is running a new commercial claiming that women preferred Snuggle over Downy.  Snuggle beat the market leader? How could this be?

*MOUSE PRINT:

The preference for Snuggle was based on how soft the towels felt wet after just having been washed? Why in the world would anyone judge a fabric softener on how a wet towel felt?  My guess is they also asked women which towel was softer and smelled nicer after they were dried, but that Snuggle didn’t win that comparison.

To be fair, the commercial also orally explains exactly what was preferred (although they deliberately omit the word “damp”), but unless you stop and really think about the (irrelevant) claim being made, you might have believed that Snuggle was preferred to Downy overall.

[See update at end of this post.] When P&G started advertising several months ago that it would give $1 to wildlife conservation organizations for every bottle of Dawn dishwashing liquid, little did they know the relevance that ad would have today. Pictures like this on the evening news have to disturb everyone:

With images like this, no wonder P&G seems to have stepped up its advertising of Dawn and its wildlife connection. (Dawn is often said to be used to remove oily slicks from birds.) Here is the full-page ad that appeared in the June 6, 2010 issue of Parade magazine:

If you didn’t read the fine print, you might have assumed that P&G was giving one dollar to these causes for every bottle of Dawn sold.

*MOUSE PRINT:

*Up to $500,000. Must visit dawnsaveswildlife.com to activate donation.

It is not unusual for these charitable promotions to have a cap, but it is more novel to require the purchaser to register their bottle of dishwashing liquid online to trigger the actual donation. (Each bottle has a unique code number.)

When one visits the referenced website, however, you learn that the contribution cap has already been reached.

*MOUSE PRINT:

“Dawn has reached its goal! Thanks to thousands and thousands of Everyday Wildlife Champions like you, Dawn has successfully reached its $500,000 donation goal to the MMC and IBRRC wildlife conservation organizations—and far ahead of schedule.”

While the Parade ad was certainly placed in advance, that doesn’t excuse P&G from continuing to air television commercials (as it did this past weekend) or if it takes out additional ads promoting the $1 donation, which has already ended.  By continuing to advertise that P&G is going to give a dollar to these wildlife efforts, the company will be encouraging people to go out and buy Dawn under the false impression that that small act will result in more money going to save these poor birds when in fact it won’t.

July 2, 2010 UPDATE:

P&G contacted Mouse Print* on July first to indicate that a website glitch last month made it appear that it had already reached its goal of donating $500,000. The company said that not only was the goal not reached, but that it is extending the promotion until mid-2011, and doubling the maximum amount it will contribute. Here is their statement:

“There was a small glitch with our website that falsely announced that we had reached our goal last month. That was quickly fixed and consumers were able to activate their donations shortly afterwards. In fact, Dawn has been so inspired by the passion of the Everyday Wildlife Champions that we’ve decided to extend the program until July 2011 and increase our donation goal to $1,000,000.”

Can you tell the difference between these two cartons of Tropicana orange juice?

To the naked eye, they look identical but for one small thing tucked into the bottom right hand corner of the carton.

*MOUSE PRINT:

There is now five ounces less in the half gallon carton — just 59 ounces. One can’t peek inside to verify that it is not filled up as much as the old cartons, but that appears to be the case. To see if there really was less in the new carton, we weighed them contents and all to see if the new container was lighter.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Sure enough, the new container plus its contents weighs over a quarter of a pound less.

Mouse Print* asked the company why it downsized, and whether they were just underfilling the old containers to achieve a 5 ounce savings.  A customer service representative responded:

“Reducing our 64 ounce carton to a 59 ounce carton wasn’t a decision we took lightly. As you probably have heard, the Florida citrus industry has suffered the most devastating winter freeze and one of the smallest orange crops in 20 years. When the supply of oranges goes down the price goes up which impacts our costs. Instead of raising prices, we chose to slightly reduce the amount of juice and maintain the price. Our consumer research shows that most shoppers, when given a choice between a price increase or slightly less contents, prefer to hold the line on prices.”

You will notice that the second question about underfilling the new containers was not answered.

The question now becomes how long it will be before Tropicana’s competitors downsize their half gallons too.

Don’t look now, but quart jars of Kraft Miracle Whip are no longer 32 ounces.

*MOUSE PRINT:

And, Kraft mayonnaise has similarly shrunk to 30 ounces too.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Kraft held out for almost four years, resisting the temptation to downsize to 30 ounces like its competitors did starting in 2006. (See our old story about Hellmann’s/Best Food mayonnaise.) Why did Kraft finally downsize? Presumably it was not so they could afford to distribute those two little Miracle Whip samples in some of yesterday’s home delivered Sunday newspapers.

According to a customer relations representative, they wanted to “consolidate and reduce packaging” because that is good for the environment, and they wanted to be able to offer the product at the “best affordable price.” There is nothing like a thoughtful, environmentally conscious company, is there?

More formally, a spokesperson from Kraft corporate affairs said, in part:

“Across our Miracle Whip line we recently did a broad overhaul of our packages and sizes.  We do this periodically to make sure we’re offering the best possible mix of product sizes and prices.  Among the things we consider are how to make them as efficiently as we can while also offering sizes that work for our consumers and our various customers’ store shelving.

 As a result, we have totally eliminated some package sizes of Miracle Whip.  And in some cases we have slightly decreased or slightly increased the size of our packages.  In general, the changes we made are in keeping with what has already occurred in the rest of the category.”

No matter how you spin it, consumers are paying the same price but getting less.  In my book (or blog), that’s a backdoor price increase.

The back page of the Kmart circular for the week of April 4, 2010 had an amazing offer:

Just buy one item from those shown, for as little as $3, and you get a free $10 prepaid debit card. Who wouldn’t jump at this offer? You shouldn’t because of the tiny fine print at the bottom of the page.

*MOUSE PRINT:

For those who can’t read that, it says you have to buy $25 worth of those products in order to get $10 back. $25 worth of products? Where did that come from? That is a far different deal from “purchase any of these products” and get back $10.