"Ziggy" wrote in message
...
Most people don't realize that they spend hundreds or even thousands of
dollars a year buying the heavily advertised (HA) brand products in the
grocery and department stores. There is nothing in the grocery store that
is rocket science. Many of the less advertised (LA) brands or store brands
are just as good or better as the HA brands. You are paying for the
brainwashing that many HA brand manufacturers put in their advertising
campaigns. It is not difficult to make shampoos, conditioners, cleaning
products and all those other products that can be found in your local
grocery or department store. Why are you paying 4+ dollars for baby
shampoo
when you can buy the less advertised brand for half the money? Do you like
wasting money? If the name brand products are better why would companies
be
spending billions of dollars in advertising? The answer is that they are
not better. They are trying to convince you that the high price they are
charging is some how justified by a better product. Studies have shown
that
many times the most expensive product is the worst product or has no
better
performance than most of the median priced products. Even over the counter
drugs like aspirin can be bought for half the price of the HA brands. This
is a product that has been around for decades. The LA products are under
the same FDA regulations as the HA brands. Save a lot of money and don't
buy the over priced HA brands. When you pay the higher price for the HA
brands you are paying for the ridiculous high salaries of the CEO's,
private jets, golden parachutes and for the billions spent on advertising.

Maybe in certain situations, your premise may be true. Example: where a
brand name food company, in order to gain better productivity and keep all
of their lines busy, will do private label work. In the grocery field,
there are many companies that do nothing but produce product for brand
companies, cranberry juice is a good example here in New Jersey.

Having worked in the pharmaceutical/consumer product manufacturing industry,
I can tell you that your premise is full of holes. While the regulations
affecting 'brand' companies and 'generic' companies are the same, in many
cases the enforcement by FDA consists of measuring the company's compliance
to its own internal operating procedures. Normally, the FDA tells you what
to do, but not how to do it. They will then opine that your procedure is
adequate or not. The major (brand) companies certainly go to greater
efforts in meeting Current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) than do the
generic companies.

You cite aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) as an example. There are many
differences in asprin tablets which affect the products efficacy and
stability. While the active ingredient may meet all compendial standards,
the methods of manufacture and the formula itself (inactive ingredients)
will make a large difference.

Long ago, before the advent of tamper-evident seals on bottles of consumer
products, I would open a bottle of store brand aspirin and with cotton
intact, sniff the opening. Almost universally, I would detect a strong odor
of vinegar (acetic acid). I would also see on many occasions, within the
bottle, needle-like crystals of free salicylic acid, the active ingredient
in corn/wart removers. This was due to the presence of moisture in the
product.

I believe it is the reason why so many people would say, "I can't take
aspirin--it upsets my stomach."

HankG