Some people like golf, I like finding marketing mistakes. I read cereal boxes, Ikea instructions, the fine print on the 12-pack of Bounty paper towels. If I see words, I’m moving in.
Like the committed and determined members of medical detector clubs, I enjoy finding spelling errors & other mistakes in massive print runs. It’s a sick hobby, I know, but the pure joy of “it wasn’t me” is a high like no other.
What keeps this odd obsession going? Because Big Foot exists. Mistakes are made. My favorite category are the marketing errors of omission.
Here are some truly odd advertising from popular brands. I’m not sure which of these two brings me more joy. Have you seen others?
Bag Lifting That’s 50% Easier
This beauty came from a Rubbermade trashcan purchased from Ace Hardware in Bonita Springs, FL in 2017. The cardboard wrap over the lid very clearly wanted to explain that lifting out bags from their newly vented version was “50% Easier”. I read the small print only to find what I assume is the same message in other languages.
At first glance, “50% Easier” sounds impressive, but how is the new & improved version 50% easier? And 50% easier than what? They mention the reason is the venting channels. I had no idea such statistical problems were being managed and measured at Rubbermaid, which IMHO is the real story, but I digress. I can’t shake the thought that someone approved this. Once adorned on the trash cans in retail establishments across the country, few customers will question the claim. I shall continue my quest like Marketing Robin Hood, merrily revealing the confusing to the masses.
A Jar of Sweet + Small
One of my all time favorites is this jar of Peter Piper’s Sweet Midgets. These were purchased in 2015 at a local grocery store in the US Virgin Islands, where neither the FDA nor the FTC must not have any offices. This jar does not have the word pickle or cucumber anywhere. No ingredients list. Kudos for including nutritional information, weight & size, and a star-worthy “new sweeter taste”, but yet the buyer still can not be confident what the food actually is in the container except that the label says “Sweet Midgets”.
A quick search on Google reveals only one place (Harter House) sold a jar that looked similar, but today the “page is not found”. Is it possible a pickle producer was dumping their remaining supply of poorly marked Peter Piper’s pickles in paradise?
Wouldn’t be the first time. Year’s ago, bottles of Joy dish detergent for sale in Coral Bay read “Not Your First Choice” proudly on the front. Disgruntled employee? Office dare? Dang, I love this stuff. Years early I witnessed an entire end cap at Walgreens displaying large boxes clearly named “Potable Speakers.” I had to ask another customer to confirm I was reading it correctly, in other words, wrongly. Another notch! “Is there a job for people to do this full time,” I dream.
So back to the sweet midgets. I did finally get up the nerve to fish one of the tiny green turds out of the mystery container. I took a brave bite and I’m pretty sure it was a pickle. Pretty sure.
Does anyone else out there look for marketing mistakes?