Here I go again. Just when I thought it was safe to read packages once more I was confronted with yet another “new and improved” claim.
An entity can no more be both new and improved that can it be both round and square. By trumpeting the improved nature of the product the advertisers imply that an earlier version existed and has been improved upon. Yet if the product is also new, what is being improved upon?
The photo on the left, claiming to be both new and improved, is an annoyance to me. The photo on the right explaining that an existing product now has a new look, and has been improved upon is anything but an insult to my intelligence. I don’t know how my Francophone colleagues feel about the word ‘look’, but from a proper English point of view it is an exemplary bit of marketing.
Sorry about riding my hobbyhorse yet again, but blame the Brita people, not me!
We all have wording that gets under our skin. For me, it’s not knowing the difference between less and fewer. Every time I year it misused, I yell at the television. I know they can’t hear me, but I yell at them anyway.