CHOICE slams toothpastes for marketing spin, ‘brands contain same ingredients as home label toothpastes’
Consumer watchdog CHOICE has accused toothpaste manufacturers of marketing spin, and claims that branded toothpaste contains basically the same ingredients as home label toothpaste sold in supermarkets.
Terms like ‘advanced-whitening’, ‘multi-action,’ ‘enamel-lock,’ and ‘micro-cleaning crystals’ lead consumers to believe that different toothpastes clean teeth in different ways, with more expensive toothpastes doing more than cheaper brands.
But in reality consumers are paying extra for essentially the same product, CHOICE spokesperson Ingrid Just has said.
And all consumer magazines are the same and find fault with products consumers like to buy.
err @JG, kinda childish response. And doesn’t address the issue. In other industries what these marketers are doing would be referred to as ‘fraud’.
Functional value propositions are the refuge of the unimaginative.
Theres over 40 broadly similar Colgate product varieties but no story.
Just addressing using the characters such as the Wiggles and Spiderman, as much as this topic is always attacked ‘using kids characters to sell products’, on the flip side, it actually works to get kids to try things. As a parent of a young child, they want to use the toothpaste that has the Spiderman on it.
Obviously as a parent you just have to make sure your giving your child the right things when brands are using advertising aimed at children (i.e not feeding them Macca’s meals on a daily basis with a free toy).
If putting character on a Colgate toothpaste makes kids want to start brushing there teeth regularly then its great. The product is a toothpaste… which is actually a good thing for kids.
I’m also hearing that Coke, Pepsi and Homebrand Coke are all basically the same thing with few differences. And that flat screen TVs come out of the same factories in Asia. And that generic drugs are the same as branded drugs. And that regardless of brand, when you open ‘tinned tomatoes’ guess what’s inside? Tinned tomatoes!
Turns out its marketing that in many cases makes us prefer one brand over the other! I hear its one of the characteristics of a free market. OMG someone call the cops!!!
Well duh.
Of course they’re the same (with subtle differences). Otherwise why/how would marketing exist? We would all use the same toothpaste and there would be no competition. And I wouldn’t need to sell ads.
Damn it! I always buy the whitening one and hope it will make my teeth whiter! Ha ha