Doug Henwood:
>
> So all those "New!" labels stamped on freshly introduced consumer
> products are just value-neutral?
Yes, unless you are low income =;'>, and then it's a positive because you go to food-4-less(whatever!) and buy the food in the returned cans & boxes that don't say "new, improved" at incredibly reduced prices without feeling declasse'.
In reality, "new, improved" could just mean less product in the package.
That's the improvement, the producing company's profit margin.
Also, someone did a study a while back that pointed to a positive correlation between higher income and higher gullibility to advertising, and that would include the "new, improved" scam as well.
It could be that the stress/de-stress cycle of the higher earner's workplace allows for stronger "learning experiences" once relaxation is achieved. That's MHO.
Advertising, like technology, is part art, part science, and part voodoo.
So there's a class/sociologial/psychological dimension as well as a technological/functional one relating to what someone will buy, and why, what is value-neutral and what isn't, which could be put aside arbitrarily, but not legitimately.
Ancedote: When I worked in the auto part store, they changed the labelling on the boxes and we had a hard time selling mixed batches in the tune up kits, either old style, or new wasn't a problem but I could sense the balkiness of the customer when there was a mixed bag.
The parts in the box were exactly the same, from the same distributor and OEM source.
Leigh www.leighm.net