海角大神

Every time I go shopping for a food item or a household item, I鈥檓 always bombarded with all sorts of nonsensical and largely meaningless terms plastered all over products. The words are often tied to products that, frankly, I view as overpriced for various reasons.

I decided to catalogue a few of these wonderful meaningless words that people pay for.

New The is an expensive one that has a lot of adherents. New products are usually priced quite highly 鈥� and usually attract buyers who are simply looking for a 鈥渘ew鈥� experience. At the same time, of course, 鈥渘ew鈥� products are ones that have not stood the test of time. They might be good 鈥� they might be awful. For my dollar, I think I鈥檒l stick with a Consumer Reports recommendation and pick up a product that I know works that doesn鈥檛 have that 鈥渘ew鈥� premium price.

Now 28% better! Whenever you see a comparison like this, ask yourself two things: in what way is it better and how is that 鈥渂etter鈥� actually measured? If you read this type of statement and think for a moment, you realize that it could mean anything at all 鈥� better blue color in the liquid laundry detergent and so on. Unless the product is precisely stating what the improvement is, such a statement doesn鈥檛 have any meaning 鈥� or value 鈥� at all.

Hypoallergenic It鈥檚 a nice-sounding term that doesn鈥檛 mean a thing. Why? There is no official standard for what the word means. There isn鈥檛 even a voluntary standard that defines the term. It does not mean that the product won鈥檛 cause an allergic reaction. It might, at best, mean that the marketers think that the stuff in the product probably won鈥檛 cause an allergic reaction 鈥� which really doesn鈥檛 mean much at all, does it?

Fragrance-free Wouldn鈥檛 it be nice if 鈥渇ragrance free鈥� actually meant that the product doesn鈥檛 contain any fragrance? In truth, the product is usually 鈥渟mell-free鈥� or some attempt at it. Instead of not including a fragrance, what often happens is that a finished product with a fragrance in it has something added to eliminate or mask the smell. If it鈥檚 done well enough, marketers will slap this label on it 鈥� but if you鈥檙e allergic to fragrances, it really doesn鈥檛 mean much at all.

All natural The word 鈥渘atural鈥� can basically mean anything. There are no standards at all for what this word means. Try this: compare a 鈥渘atural鈥� product to a similar one that doesn鈥檛 have 鈥渘atural鈥� written on the label and see what exactly is different in the ingredients list. I鈥檒l go ahead and tell you: not much is different.

Never tested on animals This one actually is true on the shallow surface: the product hasn鈥檛 been tested on animals. However, that statement is saying nothing at all about the ingredients that make up the product 鈥� most of those were likely tested on animals before they were approved for wide use. There are almost no ingredients in cosmetics and medicines for human use that weren鈥檛 already tested on animals.

Best-of-breed Such statements usually imply that the product is the best among its competitors. However, when you鈥檙e allowing the company to define who the competition is, they usually define that competition as narrowly as possible: 鈥渄og foods that use these 25 ingredients and these 6 coloring agents鈥� or something to that effect. It鈥檚 easy to be best-of-breed when you鈥檙e the only one in the group.

Organic A caveat: when you actually see the USDA Organic label on food products, that label has specific meaning: the item comes from (or the ingredients come from) a farm that lives up to the USDA Organic standards for plant and animal treatment, which encompasses quite a few things 鈥� no hormones, no pesticides, and so on. However, the word 鈥渙rganic鈥� is often used in contexts that have nothing to do with farms or the USDA Organic certification 鈥� it鈥檚 just used as a buzzword for a product that鈥檚 trying to sell itself as being 鈥渁ll natural,鈥� as mentioned above.

Superfood This is yet another term without any sort of legal definition. Thus, it鈥檚 ofen applied to all kinds of things to encourage sales 鈥� particularly high-priced fruits, vegetables, juices, and vitamins. Guess what? A well-balanced diet with lots of fruits and vegetables of all kinds will take care of your nutrition needs without spending extra money on the exotic semi-bogus 鈥渟uperfood鈥� of the week.

Nontoxic Again, this is a term that has no standard definition and no verification process to ensure that the product meets that non-existent definition. If a manufacturer thinks the product probably won鈥檛 kill you if you eat it and doesn鈥檛 contain anything that鈥檚 blatantly known as a toxic chemical, they can put a 鈥渘ontoxic鈥� label on it. But if it鈥檚 not food, why are you eating it anyway?

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