Alchemy in the shower

Ammonium lauryl sulfate
Got any around the house?

You can buy a 55 gallon drum from the ChemistryStore.com

Behind water this is one of the major active ingredients in shampoo (as well as other house cleaners). So why does your local store have shelf upon shelf of different varieties? Consumers buy the fantasy of the shampoo with fruit, plant oils, even beer. And you just have to wash your hair. There is whole regiment of chemicals the will make your hair look just like the models on TV. Look at the hair on this women in the Proctor and Gamble coupon the hair looks better than real yet the fantasy is message. You are sold on the idea that your hair can look like this by using ________.

My supervisor when I was first in the food broker business had a saying about selling the sizzle not the steak. His point was to sell to the emotions the senses because the brain if given the chance can see through the show. We are all to some degree vulnerable to giving in and letting our emotions make decisions and it is not necessarily bad but be aware of the marketer.

How Culture Changes

The culture is constantly changing and standards of acceptable behavior are only reflections upon the society. In the early 1960's middle America would have been shocked by the discussion of sex on television. The Playtex Living bra of the 1960's featured a modest model with the bra over a body suit and Barbara Eden's navel could not be visible in I Dream Of Jeannie. It was forbidden to say pregnant on television (I Love Lucy for example) let alone the sexual banter common in many prime time shows today.

Before you feel superior these were perfectly acceptable in the past:

Example 1


Example 2


Example 3 (Note the laugh track and applause)

Interestingly enough we Americans of the 21st century would be equally disturbed by some of the content form the early 60's. Cigarette ads were not only permitted on television but cartoon superstars the likes of Fred Flinstone and his pal Barney Rubble were the pitchmen for Winston cigarettes. Imagine if you would that Homer Simpson and Apo at the Quickie Mart discussing the virtues of Winstons. That is just as shocking to our sensibilities as having June Cleaver showing cleavage and discussing Wards bedroom shortcomings with Eddie Haskell.

These are extreme examples of the culture changing overtime and say more about the larger society than specifically about marketing but demonstrates that how we sell a product of the environment.

The important question here is; who would be better in the Victoria's Secret cartoon ad Betty Rubble or Marge Simpson?