Mmmm. You buy a chocolate bar in a package that
claims the thing is 25% bigger than its previous version. Yum. Then you pick a shampoo that has "only natural
ingredients" on the bottle and costs surprisingly little. Ooh! Now stop. Do you really get a great bargain or is it
just manufacturers fooling you? Think twice — marketing experts are talented
manipulators! Here’s my checklist to help you make smart
buying decisions: 1. Always pay attention to the weight written
on the package. A bag or a bottle itself may look bigger than
others produced by the same brand, but its weight can be absolutely the same! 2. Keep in mind that a product's ingredients
are always listed in order of their proportion. The first 2 or 3 things on the list are what
you actually eat. Don't let some fancy-sounding components tempt
you into buying the product if they're at the end of the list. Their amount is likely to be teeny-tiny. 3. You grab a carton after seeing big bright
letters "100% Juice." What you fail to notice (or at least, manufacturers
hope so) is the fine print. It usually claims something along the lines
of "and other ingredients," meaning that there might be water, sugar, and additives inside
that box. 4. An effective trick is to make a product attractive
on the outside and leave it blank and boring inside. Yeah, I'm talking about that cheese bread
where the only "cheesy" part is on the top. 5. Oh, and let's not forget about the packaging! For example, customers perceive food sold
in tall, skinny containers as having fewer calories than those you buy in wider and lower
packages. Plus, people subconsciously believe that things
packed in slim humanoid-shaped containers are healthier than others. That's why juices or water sold in bottles
with a prominent "waist" are so popular! 6. Food manufacturers love decorating their packaging
with images of green fields, ripe fruit, and fresh vegetables. Most people fall for these pretty pictures
even though they don't have anything in common with the real situation. Like, have you seen the amount of sugar in
a snack bar with bright fruit on the package? 7. Not only the packaging itself but also the
material it's made of can be totally misleading. You've probably seen brown recycled "kraft"
paper popular today. You perceive this material as eco-friendly,
and it leads you to believe that the insides are somehow better too. This method is so effective that people even
consider junk food to be of higher quality and healthier if it's wrapped in kraft paper. 8. Some manufacturers aren't strangers to using
optical illusions to make customers think there is more product than in reality. Empty space inside boxes, inflated plastic
bags, labels stuck at the top of glass bottles so that you don't notice they are half empty... If you know any other tricks like these, feel
free to share them in the comments! 9. "Fresh" or "farm fresh" labels on products
don't have anything to do with how fresh the food actually is. For example, if you see "fresh" sign on meat,
it only means that it hasn't been frozen. "Farm fresh," in turn, doesn't tell you anything
about the conditions in which animals are raised or crops and vegetables are grown on
that particular farm. 10. When you buy something that has "100% biodegradable,"
or "100% compostable," or whatnot written all over it, you suppose that you get something
that won't harm the environment. Unfortunately, in most cases, this label refers
to the content, not to the packaging which is no way recyclable or compostable. So, check the fine print, please. 11. Most producers show the amount of sugar, fat,
and calories for very small serving sizes. Those customers who care about such things
see low numbers and eagerly buy the product. Keep in mind that most of these servings are
tiny and have nothing to do with reality. For example, when we talk about chips, a serving
portion can be 15 pieces — now who on Earth eats chips in such SMALL amounts? Not me! 12. You can see a product's packaging claiming
that it has "0 trans fat" or "0 saturated fat" per serving. Unfortunately, the manufacturer's "0" is quite
different from your "0." In most cases, the food still contains small
amounts of harmful substances — per serving! Due to the unrealistic sizes of these servings,
these small amounts add up — and your food isn't as healthy as you thought before! 13. Manufacturers often write that their new product
is twice as big as the previous "edition," but in most cases, it's not true. All you need to do to figure out this ruse
is to compare the two versions. In most cases, it's a shocking eye-opener. By the way, if you see a jumbo box of something,
be prepared to find a regular bag inside. 14. To make their products look better than they
are, manufacturers often create their own mix of healthy ingredients and put this blend
at the top of the ingredient list. This way, it becomes one of the main components. If they didn't do it, something unhealthy,
like sugar, would get to the top. Pay attention to such words as "special blend,"
"protein mix," and so on. 15. Food producers can also choose the opposite
approach: the splitting! Let's say, the product has high amounts of
sugar in it. Then the manufacturer can split it into many
kinds of sugar. It will move the whole "sugar collection"
to the end of the list, and the product won't look so unhealthy anymore! 16. Some stores can go as far as to make their
flyers look like parking tickets you just can't ignore. Phew, you gave me a fright for a moment! Some services also mail you ads that look
like important documents you're bound to open. 17. Lots of manufacturers mention vitamins, minerals,
and herbs on their products' packaging. What most customers don't know is that companies
need just a tiny amount of the healthy stuff to mention it on the package. But when you check the ingredient list, you'll
probably find it at the very bottom. 18. "Lower calories" and "reduced fat" sound tempting! But these are extremely tricky terms. They most likely mean that this product's
version contains fewer calories than the previous one. It's still packed with fats and sugars! 19. Food manufacturers love playing with terminology. Let's say, you see "natural" or even "all-natural"
on the packaging label. It seems like a good thing! The very definition of "natural" implies that
the product doesn't contain anything artificial. But for one thing, you know nothing about
the supposedly "natural" ingredients: in what environment were they grown or produced, by
whom, when? Plus, some manufacturers just ignore the sign
they place on the packaging and still add synthetic stuff inside. 20. If some substance gets a bad reputation for
being unhealthy, manufacturers won't want it included in their ingredient list. Do they switch to healthier alternatives? Not really — in most cases, they just disguise
the name! For example, you've heard that artificial
sweeteners aren't good for your health. You examine the box but find nothing of the
kind. What you might not know is that sucralose
on the list of ingredients is a sugar substitute and artificial sweetener at that. 21. You might have also seen foods labeled "naturally
sweetened" in supermarkets. This sign immediately makes an impression
of a product with better quality. If you read the ingredient list, though, you'll
notice that this "natural sweetness" is achieved by adding good old white refined sugar. 22. Kids' food packaging, like cereal boxes, tend
to be bright and vivid, and food "for adults" has more muted colors. Studies show that customers associate such
hues with healthier products while linking bright colors with more artificial ingredients. This phenomenon is so powerful that people
even perceive a candy bar with a green label healthier than one with red. 23. "Made with..." This sign attracts many customers. Unfortunately, a product "made with maple
syrup" usually doesn't contain much, if any real thing. It's just the flavoring, coloring, and whatnot,
but not natural syrup. Go through the ingredient list looking for
the product mentioned on the packaging, and you'll find it at the very bottom (if at all). Wow. I think I need to eat an apple right now. Just one ingredient. Apple. Truth in advertising right there. Hey, if you learned something new today, then
give the video a like and share it with a friend! And here are some other videos I think you'll
enjoy. Just click to the left or right, and stay
on the Bright Side of life!
