Random Rants
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@mclaincausey My wife and I both worked extensively in Market Research and while neither one of us ever worked on dish washer detergent,I can bet you any amount of money that when they test these products the vast majority of the respondents preferred the “Clean” scent/smell. If they didn’t it would be gone in a heartbeat.
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@Jett129 that may be true, but if the research wasn’t well designed it’s moot. They may like that smell in a focus group, but until they experience real world impact like their child’s plastic water bottle smelling and tasting like soap or a spatula imparting soap flavor onto food a truly reflective test has not been conducted. I’m grateful that Finish doesn’t do that nonsense on theirs.
My suspicion is that it is rooted more in psychology than customer preferences. The book The Power of Habit discussed how sensual impact has been used by toothpaste companies (the tingling of toothpaste) and Frebreeze (the scent) for form habit anchors and product loyalty. If that’s true, then the test may have been more of a “which of these scents do you prefer?” Than a “do you prefer scented detergent?” Irrespective of incorporating downstream impacts such as those im bitching about.
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My mom used to buy this detergent that was grapefruit scented, and I asked her “why do you bother with that? It’s not like it makes your dishes actually smell. Besides, you wouldn’t want it to.” She laughed and realized how weird a concept it was.
I use that Seventh Generation stuff and have never noticed it making anything smell perfumey.
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Damn, all of you have dishwashers? Guess I should move into the 21 century
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Btw don’t get me started on the thermostat. My relationship is pretty much perfect aside from that one thing, but my partner says it’s “freezing” when it’s 75 outside. She’ll put on a coat. Meanwhile I hardly wear my UHFs because I roast in anything much more than a t-shirt
WTB
IHSH-IHG-BLK XXL
Sugar Cane Coke Stripe SS L charcoal -
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@Tago-Mago born in a volcano!
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@popvulture My wife and I can compromise on ambient temperature, but my frustration is she seems to think that the thermostat in cars is different than the thermostat in homes. I'm on team "set it and forget it" for thermostats in homes and cars, and she is just for homes. So after she's driven I may find the thermostat set to 62 or 98 with the fan turned up all the way.
It is truly a mild annoyance and beyond trivial, but it just baffles me.
Think it, be it.
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@mclaincausey I think it stems from basic likes and dislikes about the test product. I totally think/believe/agree that we are pre disposed to liking certain smells and associating them with positive attributes that we want a product to have. I can’t have any fragrance/scent in my laundry detergent and run an extra rinse in the dishwasher to minimize the dishwasher pod scent. It never occurred to me the issues that you have,and I don’t remember that kind of stuff happening when my son was that age.
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@Jett129 yep. The case studies in that book are compelling. Scent is a very powerful thing and there really aren’t too many other levers on a product like dishwasher detergent to form an identity on, and no others that I can think of that can potentially form a habit trigger. But for practical purposes in our house, it has the opposite effect, and perhaps the brand I use is exploiting that non-attribute for folks like us.
While I’m in software, we do similar testing of user preferences so I find it all fascinating. I didn’t know you and your wife were in that domain—very cool.
Tonight I’m looking to experience some scents I brought back in bottles from MX
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@mclaincausey said in Random Rants:
@popvulture My wife and I can compromise on ambient temperature, but my frustration is she seems to think that the thermostat in cars is different than the thermostat in homes. I'm on team "set it and forget it" for thermostats in homes and cars, and she is just for homes. So after she's driven I may find the thermostat set to 62 or 98 with the fan turned up all the way.
It is truly a mild annoyance and beyond trivial, but it just baffles me.
@mclaincausey don't get me started.
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@steelworker right?? Like wtf haha
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