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Home > Lucki Stars > Adding Insult
Adding Insult
by
Lucki Melander Wilder
Lucki, I think we're kindred spirits on the advertising thing. I notice many of the same little nuances,
and have often thought I should keep a notebook handy to write them down.
-- Tom Ligon, SF author
It's surprising (or perhaps not) how many times I "Say what?!" to TV advertising, and want to share the fun with someone (everyone?) else.
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2025-02-25
Reverse Reverse
Bill Maher of Real Time fame recently gave me a term I've been trying to come up with for years if not decades. The term is "Reverse Improvement". It's a way of describing the phenomenon I mean when I say, "I'm sick and tired of product producers and service providers repeatedly 'improving' things until they become absolutely useless."
So today, rather than riffing on TV adverts for products and services that suffer from reverse improvement (like my new satellite box, which both interrupts my viewing and limits my ability to autotune, when I was perfectly happy with its less-anal predecessor, which didn't assume I'm an idiot incapable of making or remembering my own decisions), I'm going to give you an example gleaned from an 'ad' on a label itself.
The product is one of my favorite forms of hummus: roasted pine nut. (I also favor roasted red pepper, and spinach and artichoke, and edamame hummus.) The last time I bought a 10-ounce container, I noticed something different on the label: a bright blue banner with white letters exclaiming "NEW! MORE TOPPING". Oh, wow, an improvement.
But wait a second. The weight is still 10 ounces. So if I'm getting more topping, I 'm getting less hummus. right? Well, maybe OK, 'cuz I'll definitely enjoy the extra pine nuts.
Only, the topping doesn't look the same; it's got red bits in it, and black stuff all over the place. A check of the ingredients label informs me that the red bits are roasted red pepper and the black stuff is black pepper. So I'm not getting more pine nuts, I'm actually getting less pine nuts and more stuff adulterating them, yeah? Come on, if I wanted red peppers, I'd get red-pepper hummus. Or chop up my own leftover red peppers and stir them in with the pine nuts myself. Or buy a container of each and mix them together. And If I wanted black pepper all over my hummus, which I don't, I'd use my own pepper shaker.
Drats! That's a reverse improvement. A form of shrinkflation. Pay the same (or more) but get less of what I'm paying for. And I'm sick and tired of it. I may eliminate that variety - or even that brand - from my buying altogether. Or, if all the brands start doing that adulteration, I may eliminate buying store hummus altogether. 'Cuz perhaps, if I start jonesing for the stuff, I can make my own (not that I'm any great shakes as a cook). Or even go to my numerous Persian friends with a bag of chickpeas and a jar of ground sesame and maybe some pine nuts (harvested, with permission, from the tree next door?) or red peppers, and ask them can I buy back some hummus when they make their own like it's supposed to be made.
Or maybe if I and a gazillion other consumers start complaining to producers of this and that, and demand they reverse their reverse improvements, we'll all start to see some real improvements.
What do you think?
Fri, Mar 14, 2025 at 3:30 PM, Nancy B wrote:
If a lot of us did that, maybe they'd change; otherwise, not. Yes, there's a lot of products that do that. I think when people get wise to that (which blogs like yours help) AND read the whole labels, they'll say "I don't need to pay for junk that I don't want." You did a good job on this one, but then you always do. And I like your pine nut cone that looks like a flower. |
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Lucki responds to Nancy:
Thanks for the high praise, Nancy. And yes, our dollars - as in our withholding thereof - is (if you'll pardon the pun) bottom-line the only thing that will get through to producers. |
Wed, Apr 16, 2025 at 5:02 PM, Kim wrote:
Hi Lucki -
I enjoyed it ALL. Justice's take was brilliant. Tom's girlfriend is amazing. Isa, your cat! (I just lost one of our dogs a couple of weeks ago, so the empathy is primed) So sad to hear you feel that Angel had to be your last cat. Is life even worth living without a cat?
Reverse, Reverse - boy do I ever agree. One of my rants uses the Kitab-i-Aqdas for support: when Baha'u'llah guides us to renew the furnishings of our homes every 19 years, doesn't this imply that refrigerators will come with a 20-year warranty?
And I loved the aphorisms and memes section this time. Laughed out loud at the 2 essential facts about God. Ha ha ha.
Big big hugs |
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Lucki responds to Kim:
Yeah, I'm conniving for a followup from Justice. Shea is certainly that, & Tom is certainly smitten (in a nice way).
Condolences re your canine; who knows, may be romping with Angel in the meadow by the Rainbow Bridge (if David hasn't already snuck her over). Still worth living, yes, but a little bit smaller.
LOL on the 20-year warranties. Good luck with that.
Essential they are; took me time, in a way, to learn 'em.
Life-preserver hugs backatcha! |
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Thu, Apr 17, 2025 at3:45 PM, Kim wrote:
I'd love to see follow-ups from both gents
Your monthly mailout was never too much, but quarterly is ok. I'm always happy to look at your stuff. |
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Lucki responds to Kim:
Re "both gents" I concur.
Thanx for the blanket kudo. Loyal readers always appreciated. (Well, of course, so are new readers.)
Enjoy your winter. Don't catch cold on all those below-80F days/below-70F nites. LOL |
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