Association of National Advertisers (ANA) 美國廣告商協會歷史悠久，有超過一百年的歷史，是美國廣告業界的龍頭組織。某天我發現原來我公司是ANA的白金會員，所有員工可以免費申請成為ANA個人會員。雖市場營銷與我本身的專業風馬牛不相及，本著不要蝕底兼八掛的心態，先登記入會看看有什麼有趣的內容。我作為一般消費者的身份，本能地對廣告感到煩厭，不喜歡被廣告打斷收看中的節目，也不想郵箱塞滿垃圾郵件，連帶對市增營銷也有偏見。
I ran out of toothpaste, so I have went to super market to buy a new one. Standing in front of the oral care aisle and I am confused. I don’t know which toothpaste should I buy. There are over thirty different kinds of toothpaste. I usually use Colgate, but even I ignore all other brands, there are still ten different kinds of Colgate toothpaste for me to choose. The product packaging is not very helpful. Other than I can tell the color and the taste of the toothpaste, I have no idea what those marketing jargon means or do they even have any meaning.
I try to read the fine prints on the toothpaste box and compare the difference in each of them. It turns out all toothpaste print the same boilerplate instruction on the box, it does not give me any useful information on the product itself. I can’t make up my mind when I don’t have any information to justify my decision. In the end, I resort to just looking at the price and buy the one that is on sale. If an average consumer like me can’t tell the difference among the products, what is the point for the toothpaste company making ten different kinds of toothpaste?
