Marketers Are Idiots - Tylenol Edition

Everyone knows that the generic or store brand of any over-the-counter medication is just as good as the name brand. In fact, it's identical. And usually quite a bit cheaper. A lot of people still buy the name brand, but they know they are spending more money for the exact same product. I'm sure there are some interesting psychological reasons why they do this. I don't.

If you take look at Tylenol's current marketing campaign, it's obvious that this fact scares the crap out of them. They have decided that the method to counteract the way store brands are eating into their obscene profits by launching their new "Promise" campaign.

The expensive, prime-time television commercial shows a number of Tylenol employees, each making a promise to the public to make a good product. They even claim that they inject "love" into their acetaminophen tablets. One of them vows to never forget that they are making something that "goes into someone's body." They are also very careful to point out that they "don't make store-brand products."


Interestingly, the commercial makes a big deal out of a new website they have launched. I went there and if they get more than my one hit it's totally beyond me why. The site shows nine different Tylenol employees, each with a story to tell via a video clip. In each one the worker makes a solemn promise to make Tylenol a great product and comment on what a wonderful family the company represents. I'm certainly not going to go back and check, but I'm pretty sure each employee makes reference to this - unprompted by the agency and corporation I'm sure! Of course there is a politically correct mixture of young, old - men, women - white, black, Hispanic - and long-time, new employees.

(The grammar cop in me also wants to point out that the instruction on the website's video monitor - "Choose an employee to hear their story" incorrectly mixes the singular noun with a plural pronoun - but this is minor stupidity compared to the massive lameness of the bigger idea at work here!)

So, rather than provide any solid reason why we should buy Tylenol over an identical store brand (actually there are none), they are trying to convince us it's better because it's made by people who care. If you want to be a part of this wonderful family, throw out your reprehensible store-brand pain relievers and only buy love-loaded Tylenol.

I wish they had shown one of the product's marketing managers. A scared-to-death clueless idiot who has no idea how to marketing his product other than making some lame, emotional appeal that is so transparent as to be laughable. Now that's a story I would have liked to have heard!