Chez PLJ

Perhaps this is because due to Mr. Local Forecast I’m a captive audience of the Weather Network much of the day, but I am getting quite irritated with the commercials for tooth whitening products. Not just because they’re particularly idiotic commercials (there’s a lot of those around); rather, the companies seem to be pitting their own products against each other, which seems somewhat self-defeating. There’s the paint-on stuff and the tooth tapes as well as the toothpaste. Each commercial takes pains to point out the “problems” with the other methods (too messy, too complicated, takes too long to work, not powerful enough), but both the major brands (Colgate and Crest) have products using all the whitening methods. Of course companies try to diversify their product lines to get a larger market share, but seeing a bunch of these commercials in a row just points out how grasping their advertising techniques are.

Also, have you ever noticed that whitening toothpastes aren’t to be used by children under 12? A convenient way to make the family buy even more products.