Spurious words in advertising

[HeyWayne]

Don't they drive you mad?

L'Oreal with "pro-tensium" advertising anti-wrinkle cream.

Activia used to use "bifidus digestivum" but has now changed to "bifidus regularis" when talking about it's gut yoghurt.

These eejits give marketing people a bad name. Stop it I say, stop it!

[Hazel at the Hill]

Ah - but you know as well as I do that the areas of both health and (esp. women's) beauty are steeped in mystique ...

....how else do you explain that the first ingredient in your shampoo etc - is 'aqua' (i.e. water) and the second one 'sodium laureth sulfate' (i.e. soap)

[Two_Sheds]

...and how to convince OH that his expensive designer shampoo has the same Aqua and Sodium Laureth Sulfate in it as my cheapo brand ? (pour mine into his empty bottle, ha ha ha)

[Flummery]

It obviously doesn't work on us! But they must be fooling some of the people some of the time eh?

[Paul Wagland]

I like it when they try and sell an idea which is clearly stupid - Like John Stalker selling those sun awnings:

"Would you use your patio more if it wasn't for the continual glare of the sun?"

Er, no John. Are you thinking of your house in the Algarve?

[kentvegplot]

We always laugh when a certain product is advertised containing 'Bozwelox' (that's my phonetic spelling)

I think they had a bet on at the advertising agency to see if anyone would notice if an ingredient sounded a bit, well, rude

[bluemoon]

All this pseudo-science is just so irritating. Especially when it comes to face creams and the like. My brother works in advertising (though he hasn't so far been responsible for any of this tripe) and some of the stories would make your hair curl........Oh, no. Sorry, silly me, the idea at the moment is to have no life in your hair at all, isn't it? But on that note think back to a time when a curl was desirable, the words used to describe it certainly were not the negative ones which are around now; 'frizz' 'kinks' and 'uncontrollable' being current favourites. Whereas in the past it was 'bounce' 'life' 'wave' etc. I think the plan is for every woman in the country to buy a set of hair straighteners - whether they need them or not, my own hair is dead straight, but my hairdresser is incapable of styling it without straighteners - then, once we have them, decide that once more uncontrollable frizz is really a gentle wave and make us all buy curling tongs - by which point I'll be beyond advertising's reach coz I'll have pulled all mine out in frustration.

[jeannine]

I think they had a bet on at the advertising agency to see if anyone would notice if an ingredient sounded a bit, well, rude

This is so true! We publish a homes magazine called Period Ideas and there's a competition every month to see who can get the word 'flange' in.

[zazen999]

Flange is one of my fave words ever. So is 'pants'.

[jeannine]

One of my all-time favourite lines from Not the Nine O'Clock News was

'Now with added Septaguesima!'

If there is such as thing as septagesima (and it may be spelled differently if there is) can anybody please explain it to me?

[Seahorse]

Septuagesima - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'm a nerd... sorry

[jeannine]

Classic!!! cheers seahorse!

[SarzWix]

"Pentapeptides" is my current pet-hate... What the flip are they?! I'm quite sure my face will suvive without them, thanks

[sez]

he one that amused me most was whatever the hell face cream thing claimed to fill wrinkles in. Filler for the face, surely polyfilla would be cheaper?

[multiveg]

"Pentapeptides" is my current pet-hate... What the flip are they?! I'm quite sure my face will suvive without them, thanks

Peptides make up proteins. Presumably, there are 5 peptides in whatever it is!