So many products disappoint us. You see advertisements, you expect a magical ride in a new car, then you find it doesn’t accelerate the way you’d like, the gas mileage doesn’t live up to its sticker and the seat gives you a pain in your hamstring if you’re in it for more than an hour.
We are so relentlessly assaulted by ads in so many ways that very few people in our information-soaked world probably even think about it. We look at things on TV, the Internet or in magazines and see they are shiny and new. Humans morph into cartoon figures, then leap through the air as if on wings, and we never think twice about it.
We watch, and these created scenes and images get absorbed by our senses. On some primordial level, it activates our desire: We want the object. We feel it. It will do good things.
Not really though. That’s why we consistently get disappointed. Our expectations are too high. Based on the advertising world’s perspective, the products we buy will never live up to the standard set by the projected image. We should plan on being unhappy repeatedly or at least cynical and sarcastic. That would help each of us accept our daily reality of the broken dishwasher, our need to replace the air conditioner or paying for a broken lawnmower after it fell apart.
It’s astonishing when we run across something that gains our complete endorsement. But those products and services are out there.
Here’s one: “5 Rain Gum.” I chew gum to help with digestion and to try and keep from cramming sweets down my throat during the afternoon at work. For this, I don’t need much to keep me happy.
But, at the same time, after trying multiple gums and finding them lacking, I settled on Rain. The problems with other gums are probably ones you’ve encountered:
· After 10 minutes (or perhaps 30), the taste is gone. You chew and chew and wonder why you are chewing because it lost flavor.
· Once you work the gum into its soft consistently, very quickly it hardens. You have to chew with so much power in your jaw that it feels like your teeth jackhammer the gum to keep it pliant.
· Texture quickly becomes lost. It may sound weird, but each gum does have a specific texture. Many lose it soon after you pop it in your mouth.
5 Rain might or might not have set out to resolve these problems. Because I don’t work for the company and don’t know anybody who does, I can’t answer that question.
What I can tell you is that 5 Rain jacks the ball out of the park when it comes to maintaining taste, pliability and long-term texture. It’s astounding. The greatest thing is it continues to keep me happy years after I’ve begun chewing it.
In fact, my family now steals the gum from me. We buy a big box at Costco. It must hold 10 packs. I take one. By the time I go back for my second pack, there is only one left. Where’d they all go? Hmmmm, with three other people still home in our house, each of them must have taken at least two.
Maybe they are squirreling theirs away. Maybe I should squirrel mine away.
They better keep making this product forever (http://www.wrigley.com/global/brands/5-gum.aspx). Otherwise I’ll have to pretend like the end of the world is coming and hoard it for future generations. And even 5 Rain couldn’t sustain its freshness then.
We are so relentlessly assaulted by ads in so many ways that very few people in our information-soaked world probably even think about it. We look at things on TV, the Internet or in magazines and see they are shiny and new. Humans morph into cartoon figures, then leap through the air as if on wings, and we never think twice about it.
We watch, and these created scenes and images get absorbed by our senses. On some primordial level, it activates our desire: We want the object. We feel it. It will do good things.
Not really though. That’s why we consistently get disappointed. Our expectations are too high. Based on the advertising world’s perspective, the products we buy will never live up to the standard set by the projected image. We should plan on being unhappy repeatedly or at least cynical and sarcastic. That would help each of us accept our daily reality of the broken dishwasher, our need to replace the air conditioner or paying for a broken lawnmower after it fell apart.
It’s astonishing when we run across something that gains our complete endorsement. But those products and services are out there.
Here’s one: “5 Rain Gum.” I chew gum to help with digestion and to try and keep from cramming sweets down my throat during the afternoon at work. For this, I don’t need much to keep me happy.
But, at the same time, after trying multiple gums and finding them lacking, I settled on Rain. The problems with other gums are probably ones you’ve encountered:
· After 10 minutes (or perhaps 30), the taste is gone. You chew and chew and wonder why you are chewing because it lost flavor.
· Once you work the gum into its soft consistently, very quickly it hardens. You have to chew with so much power in your jaw that it feels like your teeth jackhammer the gum to keep it pliant.
· Texture quickly becomes lost. It may sound weird, but each gum does have a specific texture. Many lose it soon after you pop it in your mouth.
5 Rain might or might not have set out to resolve these problems. Because I don’t work for the company and don’t know anybody who does, I can’t answer that question.
What I can tell you is that 5 Rain jacks the ball out of the park when it comes to maintaining taste, pliability and long-term texture. It’s astounding. The greatest thing is it continues to keep me happy years after I’ve begun chewing it.
In fact, my family now steals the gum from me. We buy a big box at Costco. It must hold 10 packs. I take one. By the time I go back for my second pack, there is only one left. Where’d they all go? Hmmmm, with three other people still home in our house, each of them must have taken at least two.
Maybe they are squirreling theirs away. Maybe I should squirrel mine away.
They better keep making this product forever (http://www.wrigley.com/global/brands/5-gum.aspx). Otherwise I’ll have to pretend like the end of the world is coming and hoard it for future generations. And even 5 Rain couldn’t sustain its freshness then.
