What's the impact when an advertised product doesn't live up to its claim?  As adults, we have all experienced the disappointment of a product that didn't fulfill its promise.  We may lament over its failure for a period of time, we may confine our dispair to a select few friends or in recent years may take to the web to post our thoughts for the world to read -- the internet is filled with stories of unfulfilled product claims and sites dedicated to providing a venue to digruntled consumers.

Recently, I have witnessed product disappointment from a whole new vantage point:  my young children.  At ages 5 and 7, they have only recently been exposed to television shows that contain product advertisements.  The impact has been incredible - they have an uncany ability to recall everything they see and hear.  Their minds are truly like sponges, absorbing every fact and claim.  They are an advertisers dream and their ability to influence our household purchases is real. 

After seeing numerous commercials for OxiClean, both children were spouting its claims and the answer to every problem seemed to simply be "OxiClean it! 

If only it had worked.  

Now whenever a commercial for OxiClean is on tv, it gets a completely different reaction:

"We shouldn't buy it again, it doesn't work. " or "They were trying to trick us"

My children have lost a little bit of their innocence.  The advertising world has created 2 young consumers skeptical about the veracity of any claims made.  And, for me, the C.O.O. of an advertising agency, this whole experience provides some perspective into the power of the work we do and the responsibility it carries.

(Disclaimer:  Perhaps I didn't use the product correctly, or maybe the stains in question were beyond any reasonable products ability, but nevertheless, the story above recalls actual events in our household.)

 Subscribe to the Ignited USA Blog