By Crista Finn Geary, Associate Creative Director/Copywriter
Is it just me, or did every cleaning product in the grocery store suddenly become “concentrated” overnight? I’m there looking for my usual laundry detergent—and the selection I have to choose from consists of these teeny tiny bottles that are mysteriously “concentrated.” The packaging assures me that even though they are miniscule in size, they contain even more cleaning power in every wee drop.
It’s like all the detergent companies called each other overnight.
“Arm & Hammer? It’s me Purex. Yeah. I’m switching over to concentrated tomorrow. Smaller. Yeah. No big deal. Everybody’s doing it. You going out on Friday? That’s cool. Let Cheer know.”
I can’t help but walk away with the feeling that “concentrated” is now just a synonym for “less.” Am I really supposed to believe that this Shetland Tide (www.tide.com) bottle you’re offering me is really is going to wash 152 loads? You know very well that I’m going to dump in more than I need. I’ve spent the last 25 years of my life measuring detergent out in a cap. Now I’m supposed to notice some half-hearted hash mark that asks me to stop short? Not gonna happen.
And to top it all off (no detergent pun intended) you have justified your concentration calamity with the one phrase that can get you out of anything. “Better for the environment.” You know what it’s not better for? My dirty socks.
Are consumers buying into this?
And do we have a choice?
If I were a laundry soap brand manager, I would have one big idea for the year: Go back to the non-concentrated formula and give people their large jugs of detergent back. I’d like to put my brand’s big container on-shelf in direct competition with those 100 mini containers. And I think I’d win. Because sometimes less is not more.
But I do have to admit, there are a few things I’d like to see concentrated in the future:
• Chocolate. I want to pop one concentrated M&M in my mouth and experience the pure pleasure of 52 M&Ms.
• Church. I’d like attend one concentrated mass on Sunday and get credit with God for 64 services.
• Banana Republic coupons. I’d really like them to give me 60% more off all the time.
So in the meantime, I’m getting my detergent at Aldi. Yeah. I’m rocking the Tandil® laundry soap. Incidentally, Tandil® is the Swahili word for “big container.” And that’s the way I like it.
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