Retail

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Gorilla Glue: Toughest Glue on Planet Earth*

Gorilla glue No one wants a weak glue. So it is a good thing we can buy Gorilla Glue which the maker claims is “the toughest glue on planet earth.”

Even on their website in answer to the question, “Is it really the Toughest Glue on Planet Earth,” they say “Gorilla Glue is an all purpose adhesive. If used correctly, it will bond just about anything and for just about forever. It is free of solvents and fillers which makes it both strong and versatile. There are some things that are just difficult to glue, such as certain plastics, but we are confident that once you’ve tried Gorilla Glue, you will be more than satisfied with the results.” [GorillaGlue.com FAQ, August 1, 2006]

So, pretty much, they are sticking to their claim. The makers of Elmer’s Glue, however, were not buying it. They challenged that advertised claim with the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau [NAD]. Elmer’s argued that “the toughest glue on planet earth” was a specific, superiority claim and wanted to see their substantiation.

According to NAD, Gorilla Glue provided no evidence to support its superiority claim, but offered this explanation:

*MOUSE PRINT: The “toughest glue” claim was mere puffery and “is so broad in scope, so general in nature, and so exaggerated in content, that no reasonable consumer would believe it to be a superiority claim.”

If that kind of logic were allowed to stand, then any advertiser could make specific claims about their products and defend those claims by in essence saying that a consumer would have to be an idiot to believe our advertising.

The NAD adhered to their set of interpretations of what constitutes a real claim and what constitutes puffery, and ruled against Gorilla Glue. They recommended discontinuing the claim on their packages and in advertising.

Gorilla is appealing the case, but somehow the “just kidding” disclaimer has not yet found its way onto the product.

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Mazda Madness: $21,000 Cars for $9500*

imazda

Can you really get a brand new 2007 Mazda worth over $21,000 for less than $10,000? This local car dealer apparently uses the new math to come up with this bargain.

*MOUSE PRINT: The dealer assumes you will make a $9000 down payment either by cash or trade and deducts that from the MSRP to create an artificially low advertised price. [Boston Globe, September 10, 2006]

Mazda small Here is another example from a different dealer.

Talk about an eye-catching price for a brand new Mazda Tribute. It is just over $10,000 for a $22,000 car. How in the world is that possible?

The answer is, it isn’t possible, unless you play with the numbers.

*MOUSE PRINT: The $10,090 price assumes a cash down payment or trade in worth $5500 to arrive at their artificially low advertised price. [Boston Globe, July 30, 2006 and net ad]

Here is how they work the math:

MSRP: $22,590
Cash or Trade in: -$5500
Discount up to: -$7000
================

Advertised Price: $10,090

These dealers are deliberately treating a form of payment — a cash down payment or a trade in — as a discount from the price. What you put down is never considered a discount from the price.

With their kind of logic, a home builder could advertise a $400,000 house for only $10 (assuming you also agree to give him a $399,990 down payment).

This type of advertising is reprehensible. What do you think?

 

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Hellmann’s Mayo: Introduces the 30 oz. Quart*

hellmans smallSome things always come in quarts: milk, motor oil, and mayonnaise, for example. You don’t have to look at the net weight statement, because a quart is 32 ounces, and that is what you always get.

Next time you go to the supermarket and pick up a quart-size jar of Hellmann’s (in the east) and probably Best Foods (in the west), you are going to be in for a little surprise.

*MOUSE PRINT:  The net weight statement now reads “30 oz.” instead of 32.

While the size change is apparent looking at the old and new jars side by side, you don’t have that comparison in the store. You see a dozen identical jars that look like the regular quart jar, and priced like the regular quart jar. You grab one, and you get snookered because they all have two ounces less in them.

All mayonnaise has come in quart jars for decades. Unlike tuna fish that has been downsized multiple times, this is the first time it has happened to mayonnaise. That’s what makes it so surprising, and why it has gone virtually unnoticed.

Why did Unilever Bestfoods do this?  Here’s what customer service said:

“At Unilever Bestfoods we have always taken great pride in offering the highest quality products at reasonable and fair prices.

Recently, inflationary pressures have brought about by the increased costs of raw materials. Rather than raise our prices, we chose to slightly reduce the size of the 32 oz quart and 16 oz pint. This is the first time in over three years that we have had to increase costs to our consumers.”

As with other categories of items that have been downsized, it is a sneaky way to pass on a price increase. Expect competing brands to trim their jars sometime soon. Â