Why are people so gullible with health marketing

rhoadx

Member
A coworker of mine keeps telling me about this great protein powder he's getting, every time he tells me about it he says " its pharmaceutical grade". Finally Trying to be nice about it I say " how can a protein powder be pharmaceutical grade" mainly just annoys me that the guy selling it to him is one of his buddies, kinda a rant, and also maybe if I show him a few more people saying it's b.s. I can save him some money ( this stuff is pretty pricey)
 
Because people want the easy way out, and outlandish claims make them feel better about spending their money. That's my guess anyway.
 
Pharma grade food? My apples are pharma grade too
 
I have pharma grade toilet paper.-.. makes your ass gain like hell!! Or maybe its peanutbutter,,,Cant remember
 
Hey, if you want I could replace every speaker in your car/truck audio system with "digital ready" speakers, for an outrageously marked up price of course, because they sound so superior to analog ones.....same principal
 
We live in a society with an overwhelming amount of information. We can't assess every piece of information we are given so we have to use heuristics to make decisions - those heuristics are often fallible. More expensive is not always better. Pharmaceutical doesn't necessarily mean high quality (or anything), and the known brand is not always the best.

Couple this with the fact that people have lost their ability to actually reason and form their own decisions, and we have a nightmare. Hate to say it, a lot of people on here do the same thing - "Oh, this study says this, so it has to be true" - yeah, well, that study may be a study, but it's not science because it hasn't been interpreted using logic and reason.

Another one I'm facing now - "reduced salt intake is good for you" - I have an elderly grandmother who has been prescribed a restrictive salt diet by her doctor, an aunt who takes this even further because of fear, and the result is that my grandmother winds up in the hospital every 6 weeks with tremors and confusion, etc. because she probably is sodium deficient. But the doctors know what they're doing, despite the fact there is no reasonable study, EVER, that has shown salt intake negatively impacts blood pressure.

It's everywhere. Sorry for the rant.
 
Pharma grade! Psht, how stupid... There is no such thing.. Well except for the pesky fact that there is

enteragam.com

So if the main point of this thread is to ridicule someone's ignorance, naivety, gullibility, etc.. You might want to stop for a second and try and use Google before making fun of someone else
 
JudoJosh said:
Pharma grade! Psht, how stupid... There is no such thing.. Well except for the pesky fact that there is

enteragam.com

So if the main point of this thread is to ridicule someone's ignorance, naivety, gullibility, etc.. You might want to stop for a second and try and use Google before making fun of someone else
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Does this count toward what the OP is asking though? He's asking about protein, not so much a serum bovine immunoglobin thingy with 5g protein per packet. Seems to be he has been duped by someone selling ordinary protein powder rather than needing it to treat a specific condition.
 
JudoJosh said:
Pharma grade! Psht, how stupid... There is no such thing.. Well except for the pesky fact that there is

enteragam.com

So if the main point of this thread is to ridicule someone's ignorance, naivety, gullibility, etc.. You might want to stop for a second and try and use Google before making fun of someone else
Click to expand...

Not to mention Metamyosyn in Met-Rx. All those burn victims have been saved by the stuff that now gives us gainz!
 
JudoJosh said:
Pharma grade! Psht, how stupid... There is no such thing.. Well except for the pesky fact that there is

enteragam.com

So if the main point of this thread is to ridicule someone's ignorance, naivety, gullibility, etc.. You might want to stop for a second and try and use Google before making fun of someone else
Click to expand...

I'm not ridiculing anybody. I'm actually bothered by the fact that he is being told his PROTEIN powder is pharmaceutical grade, and being charged a hefty price. It bothers me to see people ripped off by b.s. Claims.
 
rhoadx said:
I'm not ridiculing anybody. I'm actually bothered by the fact that he is being told his PROTEIN powder is pharmaceutical grade, and being charged a hefty price. It bothers me to see people ripped off by b.s. Claims.
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Really?. I'd think you'd be pissed off all the time then...I mean just look where your posting this!
 
^ I'll look into the website you posted when I get back to the house, but a quick glance at it on my phone doesn't seem to be what I'm talking about
 
T-Bone said:
Really?. I'd think you'd be pissed off all the time then...I mean just look where your posting this!
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1 I know him personally so it bothers me a bit more
2 yeah we see b.s. claims sometimes on here, but this forum is here to discuss and get info on supps and actually prevent things like this
 
T-Bone said:
So just help him out if it bothers you so much.
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Thanks for your valuable input, and I did tell him I thought that sounded like a marketing scheme, if you look at my first post. You'd see I said if I show some more comments that thought it sounded like b.s. He'd be more likely to listen to it
 
I think when we get pissed off at this - it is easy for people to become defensive. They feel like we are saying, "You're dumb to fall for that, it's just a marketing scheme. I'm smarter than you because I realize that."

And maybe we sometimes think that a little - I mean I know of one person in my life that I just roll my eyes at all the time because it's the latest ab roller, or the beach body protein shake for $150/month that isn't any good, or this supplement that does nothing even in theory.

But sometimes, we are ACTUALLY upset because we've been there. We've WANTED to believe the hype and we spent our money and it failed and we regretted being so stupid, and WE felt stupid. It may help to tell that person a story about how you've done the same thing and were disappointed. They may take it in a different way.

Like, "Yeah, I remember back when I started this and I spent $30 for EAS vanadyl sulfate because they said it was so great. I felt like I wasted my money and it pisses me off when that happens.".

I always say it on here, but when it comes to supplements, I'm like Fox Mulder. He WANTED to believe in UFOs, but hated when people tried spewing bull**** stories because they didn't help him find ET. I WANT to believe in supplements, and hate all the false promises and hope - I want to find something that actually works.
 
HIT4ME said:
I think when we get pissed off at this - it is easy for people to become defensive. They feel like we are saying, "You're dumb to fall for that, it's just a marketing scheme. I'm smarter than you because I realize that."

And maybe we sometimes think that a little - I mean I know of one person in my life that I just roll my eyes at all the time because it's the latest ab roller, or the beach body protein shake for $150/month that isn't any good, or this supplement that does nothing even in theory.

But sometimes, we are ACTUALLY upset because we've been there. We've WANTED to believe the hype and we spent our money and it failed and we regretted being so stupid, and WE felt stupid. It may help to tell that person a story about how you've done the same thing and were disappointed. They may take it in a different way.

Like, "Yeah, I remember back when I started this and I spent $30 for EAS vanadyl sulfate because they said it was so great. I felt like I wasted my money and it pisses me off when that happens.".

I always say it on here, but when it comes to supplements, I'm like Fox Mulder. He WANTED to believe in UFOs, but hated when people tried spewing bull**** stories because they didn't help him find ET. I WANT to believe in supplements, and hate all the false promises and hope - I want to find something that actually works.
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^ exactly!!!! I've been there, and I'd bet most of us have, in the beginning of our lifting life been "ripped off " so to speak.
 
People are gullible because they are uneducated. If they receive the information/education, they are no longer susceptible to the $60 Billion/Year marketing juggernaut. They can then pick apart all the BS claims used to sell the useless products. Those who pay their mortgage with the money made off the gullible, fight this education of consumers at every turn.
 
The_Old_Guy said:
People are gullible because they are uneducated. If they receive the information/education, they are no longer susceptible to the $60 Billion/Year marketing juggernaut. They can then pick apart all the BS claims used to sell the useless products. Those who pay their mortgage with the money made off the gullible, fight this education of consumers at every turn.
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I don't want to turn this political, so I'm treading lightly, but educated or not, we don't know what we don't know and we often think that something is good for us when it is really bad, until we know better.
A lot of times, the people who claim to be doing good are just exploiting human nature and promising magic, and their livelihoods depend on getting as many people as possible to buy into the magic. And if you can make people believe in magic you can make them believe in anything.
 
HIT4ME said:
I don't want to turn this political, so I'm treading lightly, but educated or not, we don't know what we don't know and we often think that something is good for us when it is really bad, until we know better.
A lot of times, the people who claim to be doing good are just exploiting human nature and promising magic, and their livelihoods depend on getting as many people as possible to buy into the magic. And if you can make people believe in magic you can make them believe in anything.
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Agree, just want to clarify that when I said 'educated' I meant on whatever subject/topic, not IQ, College Degree, etc...
 
scoooter said:
Hey, if you want I could replace every speaker in your car/truck audio system with "digital ready" speakers, for an outrageously marked up price of course, because they sound so superior to analog ones.....same principal
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Same with most sports industries and their equipment. Golf is literally capped at how fast a ball can come off the face...its regulated. There is no driver or iron that is allowed to exceed the COR standards but every year...."Longer, more ball speed, etc..."

And people spend $400-$500 on one club because they might gain 2 yards....
 
The_Old_Guy said:
Agree, just want to clarify that when I said 'educated' I meant on whatever subject/topic, not IQ, College Degree, etc...
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Yes - another common issue. People think education makes you smart and being uneducated makes you stupid, but that isn't true at all. Look at Henry Ford, he was so uneducated they took him to court to try to take his company away because they thought someone with his education wasn't competent to run such a large company. They made the mistake of thinking his lack of education meant he was stupid.
 
rhoadx said:
A coworker of mine keeps telling me about this great protein powder he's getting, every time he tells me about it he says " its pharmaceutical grade". Finally Trying to be nice about it I say " how can a protein powder be pharmaceutical grade" mainly just annoys me that the guy selling it to him is one of his buddies, kinda a rant, and also maybe if I show him a few more people saying it's b.s. I can save him some money ( this stuff is pretty pricey)
Click to expand...

He falls for marketing in supplements, I'm sure if you stepped back you'd realize there are areas you also fall susceptible to marketing.

Human psychology plays a role in our decisions and appealing to our want or need to be "bigger, faster, stronger" is very powerful.
 
Daycrawler said:
He falls for marketing in supplements, I'm sure if you stepped back you'd realize there are areas you also fall susceptible to marketing.

Human psychology plays a role in our decisions and appealing to our want or need to be "bigger, faster, stronger" is very powerful.
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Yup. Marketing/Advertising is a massive segment of the economy. It's a science/art and taught in schools. The average consumer doesn't have a chance, IMO.
 
The_Old_Guy said:
Yup. Marketing/Advertising is a massive segment of the economy. It's a science/art and taught in schools. The average consumer doesn't have a chance, IMO.
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It was covered in several of my psychology courses in school. It's very interesting.

There's a ton of research that goes into it. People probably don't pick up on most of it, but even things as small as color, border radius(sharp edges or rounded edges), placement on the page of what are called, "Call to Action" buttons on pages are all tracked to see what has the greatest human response.

Major parts of User Interface and User Experience design is built upon similar principles.

Disclaimer: This post has been fueled by Focus XT. Try it today, outsmart marketers tomorrow.
 
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