Ah the power of marketing and advertising. Even
though I like to think of myself as smart, uneasily influenced and
resistant to glossy print advertising and super tv ads, I do sometimes find
myself in Boots heading to the till with that super swish newly launched
mascara that will definitely give me the ‘falsies’ effect – after all, ‘99% of
users agree’!
It is 100% true, that most beauty product related
ads aimed at females, have a strap line along the lines of “90% of testers” or
“9 out of 10 testers” were overjoyed with the product, would use it again and
even recommend it to their bff. Wow, must be a super product!
Indicating that 99% of testers were very happy to
recommend the product sounds great. I immediately envisage masses upon masses
of women all running to their local Boots to snap up said mascara. Then they’ll
all run straight home and put it on and POW have fabulously fluttering lashes.
Men will go weak at the knees and before we know it the likes of Sushi Samba,
The Oblix and any other London venue du jour will be unable to process the
magnitude in couples wanting a table for a hot date. I MUST have this mascara.
BUT what we don’t usually know, or wouldn’t even think
to consider, is the number of ‘testers’ that were actually asked about the
product. We all went through the painful and seemingly pointless process of
learning all about proportions and ratios at school and now would be a good
time to advocate that accumulated knowledge..! I remember once being suitably
impressed with a strong endorsement for a new mascara; 93% of customers who
tried said mascara loved it and thought that it was the bees’ knees. Pretty
impressive, must be worth the money! Then I read the itty bitty details. The
sample size of testers was 7. Yes, seven.
So obviously this is an exaggeration, but you get
the jist. Companies are quite content with pulling the wool over the eyes of
their poor, loyal consumers who perhaps don’t have a strong understanding of
sample sizes and reliability… God damn it maybe they simply trust the brand!
When companies were originally forced to start
disclosing the evidence for their sometimes amazingly abstract claims, the idea
was for customers to receive the clarity they deserve. Now somewhere along the
line, thanks to some sly marketing fox that is probably now giggling into his
gold, this has gone walkabout. I think that perhaps it’s time to put the issue
up for discussion… Even if companies are merely ‘encouraged’ as opposed to
forced to use a reliable sample size, one company will hopefully do so and set
the standard. Not asking for a lot here pals, simply some truth… I can’t afford
all of these new mascaras!!
*Sample size: 1
