Don’t you just love those new adverts that use science to justify the purchase of their products? Yeah, me neither. Let’s delve a little deeper into some of them just to see what exactly science really can do to in their instance.
First product that comes to mind is Actimel by Danone. Their claim is that Actimel contains probiotics and more importantly L. casei Imunitass, their own “exclusive” probiotic. Now there’s a word I would never ever have been able to pronounce, never mind remember, only for very clever advertising… It almost smothers me to admit it! So what exactly does this chemical rubbish do for you? Well, supposedly, this helps support the bodies defenses. And the claim by Danone is that this has been proven by clinic trials so by hook or by crook we can’t deny it! But here’s what I like, their latest plug has been directed to children. You’ve seen the ads with the glowing nuclear kid and the skipping Actimel? Well if you follow the news you’ll see that the skipping Actimel has now been banned. Why? Read this extract from an online news site:
“The company said eight studies were carried out on children up to the age of 16, two of which were carried out on hospitalised children in India who suffered acute diarrhoea or were taking gastritis-related medication.”
Ok, so 2 were sick kids. I thought we were talking about a defense mechanism? Not a cure for tuberstickulitus. Let’s rubbish those 2 so.
We’re down to 6 kids that prove that this works. Right? Actually, no. The trials on the remaining six kids were apparently inconsistent. So what does that leave us with? Let’s take a stab at 65-70% of the kids reporting a positive effect after a trial of the product. That’s 4 kids. Hardly concrete evidence then eh? No wonder the ad was banned.
Ok, so what about those ads that don’t get banned? Let’s take an example from L’Oréal, and you can search youtube for this. A good example is the ad from Jennifer Anniston (or just watch it if your into her, she’s pretty hot). Here’s the claim:
“L’Oréal LV revitalising shampoo has twice the vitamins. Pro vitamin b5 penetrates the hair helping to strengthen it from root to tip”
Ok, so nothing wrong there? Actually, let’s take a closer look at this. What have we presumed from that simple statement? 2 things:
1. L’Oréal LV revitalising shampoo actually contains “Pro vitamin b5″…
All they said above is that it has “twice the vitamins”. They never actually state that the product contains “Pro vitamin b5″… well, maybe it does. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt on that one.
2. L’Oréal helps to strengthen hair…
It does state that “Pro vitamin b5″ helps to strengthen hair. What it doesn’t say is L’Oréal LV revitalising shampoo strengthens hair. What’s the difference? I hear you ask! Well, I could make a statement like this:
“My super doooper branded chocolate contains cocoa high in Flavanoids. Flavanoids in cocoa protect the heart.”
See what I did there? I never said chocolate protects the heart. I said Flavanoids in the cocoa do. Lump that in with a bucket of sugar, a wheelbarrow of full fat milk, and those Flavanoids in the cocoa is like attaching a glass of water to a petrol bomb so that you don’t get burnt.
“only Smarties have the answer”
They don’t, I checked.
