Why Pay More to Sweat Less

[Benjamin Barrett]

Hmmm, I got a different meaning for the first "obvious" interpretation. I took it as i.e., our inexpensive product isn't as good as the more expensive ones. So perhaps there are three interpretations.

Also, while the riff is probably important, too, I think just as important is the expectation of what an advertisement will say. And that drives the listener to the ultimate conclusion, whichever of VS's interpretations results. I understood the other one to be the intended meaning, perhaps influenced by my memory of the deodorant/antiperspirant product commercial wars of the 1970s.

Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA

On Oct 31, 2011, at 1:57 AM, Victor Steinbok wrote:

> There are two conflicting interpretations here. First, you have the
> obvious--don't pay more /even/ if you want to sweat less (i.e., our
> cheap product provides a perfectly adequate protection). The second, and
> the one they were going after--you don't need to pay more to sweat less
> (i.e., our cheap product is just as effective as the fancier guys). An
> additional fact is that the advertiser appears to be riffing off "Why
> pay more for less?" But the semantics of these two slogans do not match
> at all. /That/ seems to be the source of confusion--our expectation of
> the more common slogan drives us toward the first interpretation rather
> than the second. And the first interpretation is obviously contrary to
> the intent.
>
>   VS-)
>
> On 10/31/2011 1:15 AM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>> On Oct 30, 2011, at 4:12 PM, David Metevia wrote:
>>
>>> http://www.arrid.com/
>>>
>>> Is is just me or does the question "Why pay more to sweat less?" seem
>>> inappropriate for a company selling antiperspirant? I want the result of
>>> sweating less to occur for the least amount of money. To me this implies
>>> that buying Arrid is cheap, but I may sweat more than if I paid more for
>>> some other brand.
>> I agree that it's poor advertising copy, but what they are saying is, "You can pay more to sweat less, or you can pay less to sweat less."
>>
>> I think the difference is whether you interpret "less" to be relative to other products or less to the amount you are sweating without an antiperspirant.
>>
>> Benjamin Barrett
>> Seattle, WA

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