OT - Would you buy based on this description?

I understand your point and have wondered the same.

When I buy something I generally like to know as much as possible about it. However, there are limitations; for example, when buying a car there are usually detailed specs about it...engine, powertrain, etc. My car expertise doesn't go much beyond "horsepower" and "manual/automatic" so most of the detail is wasted on me. I think that is true of most people but not about the same things.

In the bed frame example, how many people would understand the difference if the manufacture had added "hardwood" as a modifier? How about "white oak"? Or "longleaf Southern yellow pine"? To us, that would be useful information but to most it would not..."durable" they understand; "long lasting" they understand. IOW, simplicity and redundancy in puffery vs detail :)

Reply to
dadiOH
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I have also started threads, here and other Usenet lists. Typically results in rapid thread drift. It's the nature of an unmoderated list.

I'd roll my eyes at the description, and then go see if I can find one in person to view and inspect.

I guess the point of my post was not clear. My bad, I guess.

It was not about which bed/mattress my parents should choose. It was only about the *words* used in the description of the Modular Base.

"...durable, long lasting material"

My point was: Would anyone buy *any product* based on such a vague description of the product.

If a contractor was going to build you a deck and said he was going to use "durable, long lasting material" would you sign the contract? If a flooring store had a sale on flooring made of "durable, long lasting material" would you say "Well, then, sell me some of that!"

The description of the product, not the product itself, was the point of my post.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

I think so.

On Perry Mason, a lot of things were immaterial. So at least you won't have Mason's problem.

I'd like to know how the darn thing works. A bunch of us are going to visit my brother, and the last time this happened, he bought a couple air mattresses. I hate air mattresses and ended up sleeping on the carpeted floor (which was fine.)

I too once tried to find out what a Sleep Number mattress really was and afaicr, it had something to do with air. There's also a second kind of niche market mattress advertised, and I looked that up too, but can't remember either the name or how it worked.

What I'm really thinking is that one night might not be enough to know something is really better. Maybe it's just that it was better than the mattress your parents have at home. Maybe that needs to be turned over, or turned around. Do they ever do that? AIUI, it's standard practice, but I can easily imagine that many people don't think of it.

Or maybe they really need a new mattress but innerspring is still what they want.

I found this. I'll bet it's what you found.

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I did buy a new mattress a while back, like new at a moving sale, and failed to notice that it was a couple inches thicker than the last one. Can't use the same fitted sheets, it was higher than my hand-made headboard shelf, and higher than the TV next to the bed. I had to make supports for these last two things, and it still doesn't look right to me.

Reply to
micky

That is about my approach. Take all the commercials plugging the various "new" OTC medicines. IMy immediate thought on hearing one is "if it were good enough to do half the things they claim, the doctores would be prescribing it".

Harry K

Reply to
Harry K

Why would a doctor prescribe an OTC medication?

"New" OTC meds are generally "old" prescribed meds that have been around lo ng enough and proven to be safe enough to be "self prescribed" by the avera ge consumer... and there's more money to be made in the consumer market tha n the prescription market.

Unless you can pull actual data, you have no idea how many times these "new OTC" meds have been prescribed. Could be millions of times. Prilosec, for example, was prescription only for many years, and was certainly prescribed millions of times. Now you can get it OTC.

Reply to
dennisgauge

The concept is very simple:

It's essentially an air mattress with baffles and a pump. The inside of the mattress is not one big opening like standard air mattresses, instead there are "compartments" within the mattress to give it more stability. There is also some standard foam padding on the top of the mattress. More (and more) padding is available as options.

The remote control for the pump either adds more air or lets some out depending on what "number" the user finds most comfortable. On full (queen?) size and larger, there are actually 2 separate mattresses controlled by the same pump and remote, allowing each side to be set differently for each user.

As I've said a number of times in this thread, my question had nothing to do with the mattress itself. I was only commenting on the phrase used to describe the modular base available from the same company - the base that forms the "bed" that the mattress rests on.

I was not looking for recommendations for my parents, I was not looking for reviews of the mattress or even of the modular base. I was simply commenting on the words used to describe the base, specifically:

"Made ... of durable, long-lasting material"

Nope...that's not the page I was referring to.

If you go through the "Confgure your bed" step, you will eventually come to the screen where you can choose a base. There is a link to "Learn more" about the base. It is via that link that you get a popup that gives the description I mentioned above.

"Made in the USA of durable, long-lasting material"

Those vague words are what prompted my comments.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Another example of the adage that most importan part of an ad is what they don't tell you.

Reply to
Charlie

I'm sure we've all see numerous post where some particular fact was clearly mentioned in the Original post and then numerous follow ups ask "can you tell me....." the thing that was already stated. Once there have been more then three reply's to a post it's a safe bet it's already run off the rails.

Just like my post above,,, it has nothing to do with the original post about ad copy.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

I OBJECT!!! It's irrelevant, incompetent, and immaterial!!!

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

found.http://www.sleepnumber.com/eng/products/mattress-bases-and-frames/mod...

Are you wishing you'd never asked?!?!?!

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

I'm sure you're much more likely to evaluate a detailed set of audio specs. As you say, it's there for the people it means something to, and that varies.

The puffery has to be vague because if it's specific it constitutes a legal offering. If you buy special gold-plated DVD-Rs for archival recordings you have a right to expect them to actually be gold-plated. If you buy a car with a 2L displacement, it should measure out that way. But if you buy the world's most famous hamburger, you can pretty much be assured that's NOT what you're getting.

Since there are so many unemployed, recently graduated lawyers roaming the countryside, vendors have to be careful not to promise something they can't deliver. The major exception seems to be the outright fraudsters running late night infomercials.

Most puffery relies on exactly the kinds of vague words they used in the OP's mattress base ad. Specific is bad unless it's verifiable so they generally do not use words like "the best", "the strongest" or "the *most* durable." Those words, if not true, could trigger a suit based on false advertising (in many jurisdictions that allows for treble damages). So instead we get "one of the finest" or "four out of five doctors" or "LSMFT." Ad copy from just about any Fortune 500 company is vetted by their legal department before it's released.

In addition, a "soft" descriptor like "durable" allows them to change the type of wood they use. Guitar makers and other exotic wood consumers are learning that right now.

Something that really torques me up are the places that advertise titanium drill bits when they actually mean titanium *coated* drill bits. One you sharpen a coated bit, it's just a regular steel bit for the most part.

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Reply to
Robert Green

True. Maybe we need a moderator. Should we bring it up and ask the guys here?

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Another example of the adage that most importan part of an ad is what they don't tell you.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

You know, that's a great idea. I think we should ask. Moderator could prevent thread drift, block off topic posts, report spammers to thier ISP before we see the messages, prevent anything controversial, determine the truth of any advertisements, assure that only govenment approved messages make it to the board, prevent flame wars, kwyetly corekt spelleng airrers, and reverse the effects of global warming. Moderator would have to be durable, and of good quality.

True. Maybe we need a moderator. Should we bring it up and ask the guys here?

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Who's stupid facts are these?

Hell, I've had at least 6 beds in my life, not including the days when I was young and just put that mattress on the floor, and I've has at least

10 mattresses, if not 12 or more. In fact I just replaced a saggy mattress recently. I always wonder who makes up facts like this? When people move a long distance they often sell their large furniture and buy new stuff at the new location. People have floods, fires, and other disasters that make them buy a new bed, etc. And does this include their infant bed? If it does, that would mean that once they get out of that infant bed, they sleep in the same bed for the rest of their life. That's just not true for most. Hell, I had an infant bed, single (twin) bed as I got older, then the frame broke so I got another twin bed, then a larger bed, and when I moved, I bought a different one and sold the old one. There were several years when I was in school, I had a bed as part of a rental, so that's another. And dont forget the bed you had in the military if you were in the military.

People who only had 2 beds in their life, probably existed in the 1800s, and that was only if they had no disasters that damaged their bed, and stayed in the same home all their lives.

And dont forget the last bed we will all own, our DEATH BED. I still have not found any furniture stores that advertise "Death Beds". I guess they are not too popular!!!

I doubt there are more than a handfull of people who have only had two beds in their lifetime.

Reply to
generic

long enough and proven to be safe enough to be "self prescribed" by the ave rage consumer... and there's more money to be made in the consumer market t han the prescription market.

ew OTC" meds have been prescribed. Could be millions of times. Prilosec, fo r example, was prescription only for many years, and was certainly prescrib ed millions of times. Now you can get it OTC.

The point was dthat if were as good as claimed it wouldn't _BE_ OTC.

Harry k

Reply to
Harry K

I guess next time I'll just have to be clearer as to the point of my question or perhaps leave out the details related to the product in question.

Sometimes too much detail leads folks down the wrong path.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Because it works?

enough and proven to be safe enough to be "self prescribed" by the average consumer... and there's more money to be made in the consumer market than the prescription market.

Insurance doesn't cover non-prescription medication. There's good reason some pharmas try to keep drugs prescription-only, at least until the patents run out and other climb into the market (if they do).

OTC" meds have been prescribed. Could be millions of times. Prilosec, for example, was prescription only for many years, and was certainly prescribed millions of times. Now you can get it OTC.

Reply to
krw

enough and proven to be safe enough to be "self prescribed" by the average consumer... and there's more money to be made in the consumer market than the prescription market.

OTC" meds have been prescribed. Could be millions of times. Prilosec, for example, was prescription only for many years, and was certainly prescribed millions of times. Now you can get it OTC.

Illogical.

Reply to
krw

What would you suggest as a moderator, lead, or heavy water? Perhaps Cadmium?

It's just you, but they *never* ripen.

Reply to
krw

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