Have you ever been to CVS, looking for
your specific brand of whatever (skin care products, hair products,
etc.) and after making your purchases discovered that instead of what
you went in there to get you actually purchased a CVS lookalike?
Isn't that just the worst feeling of disappointment ever? I think
yes.
It is really important to pick the best quality chocolate coins. Seriously.
It's a rather devious tactic used by
CVS to create their own brand of the products that people know and
love and then specifically design the packaging so that it looks
almost exactly like the name brand products you were probably
searching for. And if you're in a hurry or weren't paying particular
attention and just grabbed whatever bottle or box looked familiar,
then you might find yourself disappointed with your purchases.
Which apricot scrub is the real apricot scrub? We may never know...
So why do they do it? I mean, it's
pretty obvious what they're doing. If you take a second look at their
products, their intention is quite clear. Would it be too
presumptuous to say that it's also a little sad? I don't mean this in
a condescending manner, but I am a little amused whenever I see the
CVS brand products placed next to the name brands they are trying to
imitate. It seems as though they are dancing around the copyrighted
package designs.
Should CVS instead hope to entice
customers with their prices? Their brand is already cheaper than the
name brands, so why try to pretend to be something they're not? And
we have to consider the quality as well. Is the CVS brand just as
good as the name brands? Well according to CVS, their products are
just as good, as they indicate in this article on generic vs. name
brand medicines.
Certainly studies have been done
looking into the matter, but ultimately the choice lies with the
consumer. So the super important question that now faces you is this:
CVS or brand name?
I had a "crisis" a few weeks ago, my hands were scalier than a snake, yet the bottle of hand lotion in my bag was EMPTY! I went to CVS expecting to find some cheap (99 cents or less) travel-sized hand lotions. In reality, many of the prices were the same as, or more than the prices at Bath and Body Works, and they used the packaging techniques you described, to make it look like the real deal. I ended up buying a fancy bottle with a clinical look that read "Advanced Healing"... the ingredients were the same as the others that read things like "Aloe cooling" and "Warm Vanilla Sugar". In addition, I've noticed they will give you less in that look-alike packaging.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note about the chocolate, I agree. I find it hilarious when some of the really cheap chocolate products actually have no cocoa beans listed in the ingredients list--instead, they use artificial flavoring and coloring to make it look and taste like the real deal. YUCK!
I have to agree with you ladies on this. I usually denounce the idea of spending mucho dinero on products when there is a cheaper alternative, but oftentimes you can't find a viable alternative anymore. It seems as though the generics I find in CVS/Rite-Aid/Eckerd's for things like lotion, chapstick, and candy never even have "real" ingredients in them.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure... I'm definitely on the side of "they are just as good." If you go into my room, I basically have all Up and Up products in my shower caddy (Target's version of products). I used to be against it, but I noticed that by spending a little less, I really don't sacrifice quality. My mom used to always tell me that when I was little and insisted on buying the most expensive apple sauce. She told me that most products that are "knock off" are made in the same factory as the name brand. It's just the company that owns the product and packaging that differentiates it. I don't entirely believe her on that point, but I'm totally happy with my CVS brand :)
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