Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Grain Berry Pasta Ad

I like to critique advertisements. This one came with the weekly coupons in the mail (click to enlarge):


The text I read first was the part right next to the picture that says, "We Blindfolded Her To Taste New Grain Berry vs. Regular Pasta!"

After my brain deciphered what that sentence said (confused by the capitalization and the new term "grain berry"--and wondering what "regular" pasta is), I expected to read some sort of conclusion to the blindfold test. But there was nothing there. Nothing. The rest of the ad focused on the health benefits of the product, leaving me with nothing more about the flavor.

But wait. Let's go back to the picture. The little caption above the "We Blindfolded Her" sentence might be the reviewer's response to the blindfold test. This caption says, "It tastes like regular, but goes well beyond whole wheat pasta!"

This might be the response, but it's not, because a) who talks like that? b) this girl looks young, maybe 11 or 12, and what young person talks like that? and c) this statement seems to imply that the taster knew which pasta was which when tasting them, which would defeat the purpose of the blindfold.

In conclusion: a blindfold test, even a fake one that is only staged for an advertisement, needs to have an outcome in order to even enter into the realm of possibly being relevant to my shopping decisions. Otherwise, you just give me more fodder ads to post on my blog.