Monday, February 23, 2009

The Tin Ear Award Goes To...

A pet peeve of mine is marketing and advertising that uses terms like consumers or product. As in, "Hey there Mr. Consumer - try my product!"

Um, no.

Worse yet is directions on food packages that warn "Heat before use - caution, product will be hot." On food packages! 

Seriously, don't do that. Food is for eating, not for using. People who refer to food as a product (and who try to tell consumers how to use that food-product) have spent too much time in the marketing bubble. Lingo like that simply doesn't belong in the conversation between seller and buyer.

Anyway, a package of cream cheese caught my eye the other day.


Do I really care what consumers prefer? Isn't there another word for consumer, a word that's maybe a bit more human? Like, maybe people?

6 comments:

Mark said...

Haha!

I'm reading this as I consume a cup of fresh-brewed coffee product.

mmmm.... product....

Anonymous said...

Dan,
You obviously won't do well when the robots take over and rename you "unit 10010101101"

I, on the other hand, will adapt quite nicely. I just used a food-product this morning, and it was excellent!
-Pete (11100101101)

jafabrit said...

I agree, why would I care what other eaters of said food product prefer.

Other buyers instead of consumers perhaps.

Mark said...

All this talk of product is stimulating my gastronomic response centers. I think it is time to head down to the nutrition processing center to grab a quick food unit for ingestion.



(funny side note... my captcha for this comment is "efing". So I have to enter an "efing" captcha just to prove I am not a bot!) :)

Unknown said...

Yes, when the robots take over, I'm totally screwed. :)

Anonymous said...

Dan -- Remember, you are what you eat . . . and vice-versa. So, have another helping of Soylent Green. Mmm, that's some product!