Items the advertisers try to convince us are essential

[Deleted User]

that anti-bac powder to kill off bacteria in your washing, as soon as its hung to dry, or put in the dryer there will be bacteria on it again! Same if you put in the wardrobe, linen cupboard or even wear it! No harm in it as bacteria is everywhere, I have never become ill from any bacteria on my clothes.

ceridwen

Sassers wrote: »

I really laughed when I read this - it's so true. I have a £1000 Mulberry handbag that's a ugly as sin, is under the bed and I kick it everytime I go to bed. I hate it and was given it by an ex, who should have known better. All his male friends had brought their girlfriends purses so he thought he'd buy me this huge 'kin ugly, unwearable `thing' to show off and make his mates feel inferior and so their other-halves would give them an earole bashing.
.It's honestly 10 on the fuggly scale - oh, so is the bag.

Fully agree with the comment by another poster to sell it - its neither use nor ornament and is just getting in the way and reminding you of him.

Best put it up on ebay for sale whilst its still in fashion - as once it goes out of fashion you wouldnt get much for it - but right now (even if its just a couple of hundred quid) then its all money into the bank account:)

Ben84

Rolex watches are one that always amaze me. Sure, almost everyone could use a smart watch, but there's a nice watch and then there's one that costs more than a new luxury car. When a cheap casio tells the time accurately and can last for years, it has to be accepted that spending more is largely based on how it looks.

Branded aspirin, paracetamol or ibuprofen. I discovered when I became a chemist that there is absolutely no difference between the expensive ones and the cheap ones. They take advantage of most people not knowing much about this and frankly it's daylight robbery to have £3 packets of paracetamol next to 20p ones that are the exact same thing. The active ingredient is in the same form, they're available in the same strength and have to meet the same production standards. Don't be pulled in by packets referring to specific conditions like headaches or back pain either, if it's just a plain paracetamol/ibuprofen tablet then that's really all it is. Check the packet and compare to other ones, every active ingredient and the amount per tablet will be printed on the box. The other trick is fancy ways to deliver medicine like liquid capsules, which look pretty, but that's about all there is to it. The really cheap ones available in supermarkets and shops like boots are just as good.

As for other medicines than pain killers, the active ingredients may vary (check, some admit in the small print that they're really generics), but even where it is different I wouldn't assume the expensive branded ones are the better versions either. Ok, they might be better, but then again the generic store brand might be better and I'd consider both options as likely. Companies spend their money marketing the drugs they have patents for, not the ones which work the best. I've personally had really good results with cheaper store brand versions of cold/flu tablets and anti-allergy tablets.

eco

Branded aspirin, paracetamol or ibuprofen. I discovered when I became a chemist that there is absolutely no difference between the expensive ones and the cheap ones. They take advantage of most people not knowing much about this and frankly it's daylight robbery to have £3 packets of paracetamol next to 20p ones that are the exact same thing. The active ingredient is in the same form, they're available in the same strength and have to meet the same production standards. Don't be pulled in by packets referring to specific conditions like headaches or back pain either, if it's just a plain paracetamol/ibuprofen tablet then that's really all it is. Check the packet and compare to other ones, every active ingredient and the amount per tablet will be printed on the box. The other trick is fancy ways to deliver medicine like liquid capsules, which look pretty, but that's about all there is to it. The really cheap ones available in supermarkets and shops like boots are just as good.

This is my sisters gripe and she's a nurse, she buys the cheapest she can find, and she says if it say's something like paracetamol +, the + is caffiene to give you a bit of a boost so you think it works faster, she's nagged me that many times about it she say's have some paracetamol and a coffee much cheaper.

coolcait

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Juno, thanks for the reminder! Which genius thought that we were up all night fretting away about our un-moisturised underarms? I think they must all be on drugs or something....

Oh, ladies, the sensible part of me agrees with everything you are saying about that advert for that deodorant.

The part of me which is feeling the truth of this internet beauty (http://www.menopausematters.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6627.0) is strangely drawn to the siren song of beautiful underarms.

My face is going, going, gone
My boobs have moved south to be in a wonderful relationship with my belly (they're pretty much inseparable now)
My behind is thankful that I never succumbed to the idea of having a dainty flower tattoo inscribed on my hip. By now, it would be a triffid.

But underarms - maybe there's still hope for them... :rotfl:

Thank you all for reminding me that I'm just the victim of clever advertising (and vanity and time). :T

juno

coolcait wrote: »

Oh, ladies, the sensible part of me agrees with everything you are saying about that advert for that deodorant.

The part of me which is feeling the truth of this internet beauty (http://www.menopausematters.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6627.0) is strangely drawn to the siren song of beautiful underarms.

My face is going, going, gone
My boobs have moved south to be in a wonderful relationship with my belly (they're pretty much inseparable now)
My behind is thankful that I never succumbed to the idea of having a dainty flower tattoo inscribed on my hip. By now, it would be a triffid.

But underarms - maybe there's still hope for them... :rotfl:

Thank you all for reminding me that I'm just the victim of clever advertising (and vanity and time). :T

I'm only 25 so my underarms might be younger than yours, but I still think they look ok without the special deodorant. I'd rather not smell and thus buy one for that purpose (I use Mitchum) thaan worry over how pretty they are.

coolcait

juno wrote: »

I'm only 25 so my underarms might be younger than yours, but I still think they look ok without the special deodorant. I'd rather not smell and thus buy one for that purpose (I use Mitchum) thaan worry over how pretty they are.

Oh, I haven't succumbed (yet) to the advertisers. I still buy my deodorant for anti-pong reasons (Sure for me rather than Mitchum, which my body didn't react well to :eek:).

And, when I was 25, all my other body parts were pert and in the right place (not that I really appreciated it at the time :mad:)...

I do realise that it's the reaction of a desperate, ageing woman to find myself thinking 'maybe I can still save my underarms, even though everything else has gone south/to pot'.

That's the kind of insecurity/desperation that the advertisers are trying to prey on. OK, I haven't fallen for it, but I do recognise how it works.

And, if they stop making my favourite Sure product (it's getting harder to find), and I'm in the market for a replacement...

There's a good chance that I'll pick up the product which has wormed it's way into my subliminal brain.

Arguably, do we need deodorants of any kind? Or is that just because of the way society (advertisers?) has conditioned us to look at a natural body function like sweating? Making deodorant an item which advertisers have convinced us is "essential"...

What about the many, many different products for removing body hair? How "essential" are they really?

building_with_lego

Well they were essential to the fortunes of Gillette and Wilkinson Sword after World War 1- so many young men were killed their sales crashed and they looked to women as a new market. A few ads implying that hairy pits were unhygienic and voila!

rosie383

So, did anyone end up watching the David Walliams prog the other night about the ads? I watched most of it with DD1. Had to turn it over every now and again when the ads for vaigra etc came on.
We were laughing so much we nearly wet ourselves!!!!!

The best one ( 14 minutes into the show if you want to catch up!), was the ad for ( forget what it was called now) something like a blue stick-type affair that you inserted the loo roll in the end of, to make it easier to clean your bottom:eek::eek::eek:. Seriously, the ad started by saying something like ' for years we have had to fold our toilet tissue, scrunch it up' etc etc. Now with the handy bum wiper, you can clean up sooo much easier!!!!! We were thinking ' only in America.... got to be so that all the morbidly obese people can have that little bit extra length to reach their bits!!!!!!!'. BTW, having been very obese at one time myself, it is a problem!

Another great one was the urinal designed for use on the golf course. Seriously, it looked like a golf club but with a hollow handle to wee into.:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

building_with_lego

eco wrote: »

Branded aspirin, paracetamol or ibuprofen. I discovered when I became a chemist that there is absolutely no difference between the expensive ones and the cheap ones. They take advantage of most people not knowing much about this and frankly it's daylight robbery to have £3 packets of paracetamol next to 20p ones that are the exact same thing. The active ingredient is in the same form, they're available in the same strength and have to meet the same production standards. Don't be pulled in by packets referring to specific conditions like headaches or back pain either, if it's just a plain paracetamol/ibuprofen tablet then that's really all it is. Check the packet and compare to other ones, every active ingredient and the amount per tablet will be printed on the box. The other trick is fancy ways to deliver medicine like liquid capsules, which look pretty, but that's about all there is to it. The really cheap ones available in supermarkets and shops like boots are just as good.

This is my sisters gripe and she's a nurse, she buys the cheapest she can find, and she says if it say's something like paracetamol +, the + is caffiene to give you a bit of a boost so you think it works faster, she's nagged me that many times about it she say's have some paracetamol and a coffee much cheaper.

There was a programme on BBC last year about this; actually some people do have a placebo effect with branded painkillers and find them more effective. (Thankfully not me ). Large pills are more effective than small ones too, though teeny tiny ones are the most effective.