GodsThumb

We are very obedient when it comes to following instructions on the products we buy, and the manufacturers know it. Famously, back in the 1930’s, the Lever brothers asked their employees for suggestions on how to improve their shampoo sales. One bright spark suggested the addition of the word “Repeat” to the directions written on bottles. Voila — sales were doubled.

In the 1960’s, Alka Seltzer began a marketing campaign to remove its associations with the elderly and with overindulgent slobs who ate and/or drank too much. They did so using humor, but more crucially, although the directions on the packet said it was only necessary to use one tablet, the advertisements featured two tablets clunking and fizzing into a glass of water with a “plop plop, fizz fizz” catch-line. The effect on sales was immediately positive.

Consider too the arrival of the tiny words “After opening, refrigerate” and sometimes “Eat within 8 weeks” on sauce bottles. They weren’t there when the product was first sold. The benefit to the manufacturer of the latter is obvious: if you obey, you will get through or dispose of the bottle more quickly and replace it with another. The former, however, is brilliant. If you store your bottle in the refrigerator, probably in the door, you will be reminded of it every time you open it. Stuck in a cupboard you will forget it is there and will use it less often. They know us better than we know ourselves.