Living In GenericaGenerica
What's your take on generic products?
Is that chicken noodle soup in the can with a plain wrapper the same soup that you find in a fancy red and white Campbell's soup can? I mean, doesn't all the chicken soup come from the same vat?
I have to admit that I do buy generic/store-brand stuff.
Take peanut butter, for example. I only buy 100% pure peanuts ground into peanut butter without any sugar or salt or anything else added. Is it possible that my 100% generic brand peanut butter is different from, say, Kraft® 100% peanut butter. Is there something about these generic peanuts that I should know? Are the peanuts in the generic brand less peanuty than the peanuts in the Kraft® version? Are the generic peanuts smaller, genetic abominations, sorted by child workers in Thailand? Are the generic peanuts crushed and turned into butter by illegal nut-aliens skirting the Arizona border guards and sneaking into the peanut butter factories with forged papers?
I have tried both generic peanut butter and brand name peanut butter, and to be honest, I can't tell the difference.
Now, I'll admit that some generic products never seem to meet the mark of good taste.
Generic coffee, for example, isn't really coffee. Well, it may be coffee in name, but generic coffee usually tastes like high point axle fluid. OK, I have no idea what high point axle fluid tastes like, but I suspect it is something quite unpleasant. I once bought some generic Colombian coffee. It was in a plain, but bright, yellow wrapper, and on that wrapper there was not a single claim that the coffee was from the country, Colombia. For all I know, the coffee could have been bagged in Columbia, a town of about 1580 people in Herkimer County, New York.
At any rate, I brewed a pot of those ill-begotten coffee grounds, and after one sip of the murky brew swirling like a muddy puddle in my coffee cup, I said a good Hail Mary and swore an oath of allegiance to Folgers® from then until perpetuity.
Of course, there is a whole big issue about generic drugs as well. Do you buy generic ASA or generic ibuprofen? Or do you reach for the brand name products, like Aspirin® or Advil®? Do you believe that the generic drug makers leave something out of their ASA or their ibuprofen? Or do you believe that all these concoctions are identical, except in price?
We live in a generic-gone-mad world. Everything we buy seems to have some unpretentious, unsolicitous, unadvertised, plain-wrapper counterpart.
So far, we don't seem to have generic people, but I can see that coming.
Before long, it's likely that women looking for a husband will soon get to decide between a generic man or a brand name man. The generic man will be pretty much the same as the brand name man, except he'll wear mostly black and white or possibly canary yellow clothes. He may be a little shorter, maybe a little less imaginative than the brand name man, but the two will be more or less the same when it comes to matters that count.
Like his brand name counterpart, the generic man will snore, leave the toilet seat up or pee on it when it's down, drive too fast, tell blonde jokes, fix things around the house so that they will never work again, wash the whites with the coloured items, put regular dish soap in the dishwasher, well, you name it. What a brand name guy would do, so too will a generic guy.
The only real difference will be that, unlike the brand name man, the generic man will be something of a spendthrift. Instead of driving an expensive BMW, he'll putt along in an economical Ford. Instead of owning a nice house in the 'burbs with a white wooden picket fence, he'll buy half a duplex near the industrial zoned area of town. Instead of buying the kids brand name clothing for school, he'll shop at the flea market and look for "knock-offs."
Oh, and I guess this is important, when you decide to cash in a generic husband by divorcing him, well there won't be as big a payday as you might have hoped for. Something to keep in mind , but all in all, a generic man is really not a bad deal, considering he will cost much less in those bothersome, time-consuming sexual demands and will require little, if any, emotional commitment.
I have to go. Time for a bowl of the not-quite-good-enough generic granola that I bought several weeks ago. After all, someone has to eat it ...
What's your take on generic products?
Is that chicken noodle soup in the can with a plain wrapper the same soup that you find in a fancy red and white Campbell's soup can? I mean, doesn't all the chicken soup come from the same vat?
I have to admit that I do buy generic/store-brand stuff.
Take peanut butter, for example. I only buy 100% pure peanuts ground into peanut butter without any sugar or salt or anything else added. Is it possible that my 100% generic brand peanut butter is different from, say, Kraft® 100% peanut butter. Is there something about these generic peanuts that I should know? Are the peanuts in the generic brand less peanuty than the peanuts in the Kraft® version? Are the generic peanuts smaller, genetic abominations, sorted by child workers in Thailand? Are the generic peanuts crushed and turned into butter by illegal nut-aliens skirting the Arizona border guards and sneaking into the peanut butter factories with forged papers?
I have tried both generic peanut butter and brand name peanut butter, and to be honest, I can't tell the difference.
Now, I'll admit that some generic products never seem to meet the mark of good taste.
Generic coffee, for example, isn't really coffee. Well, it may be coffee in name, but generic coffee usually tastes like high point axle fluid. OK, I have no idea what high point axle fluid tastes like, but I suspect it is something quite unpleasant. I once bought some generic Colombian coffee. It was in a plain, but bright, yellow wrapper, and on that wrapper there was not a single claim that the coffee was from the country, Colombia. For all I know, the coffee could have been bagged in Columbia, a town of about 1580 people in Herkimer County, New York.
At any rate, I brewed a pot of those ill-begotten coffee grounds, and after one sip of the murky brew swirling like a muddy puddle in my coffee cup, I said a good Hail Mary and swore an oath of allegiance to Folgers® from then until perpetuity.
Of course, there is a whole big issue about generic drugs as well. Do you buy generic ASA or generic ibuprofen? Or do you reach for the brand name products, like Aspirin® or Advil®? Do you believe that the generic drug makers leave something out of their ASA or their ibuprofen? Or do you believe that all these concoctions are identical, except in price?
We live in a generic-gone-mad world. Everything we buy seems to have some unpretentious, unsolicitous, unadvertised, plain-wrapper counterpart.
So far, we don't seem to have generic people, but I can see that coming.
Before long, it's likely that women looking for a husband will soon get to decide between a generic man or a brand name man. The generic man will be pretty much the same as the brand name man, except he'll wear mostly black and white or possibly canary yellow clothes. He may be a little shorter, maybe a little less imaginative than the brand name man, but the two will be more or less the same when it comes to matters that count.
Like his brand name counterpart, the generic man will snore, leave the toilet seat up or pee on it when it's down, drive too fast, tell blonde jokes, fix things around the house so that they will never work again, wash the whites with the coloured items, put regular dish soap in the dishwasher, well, you name it. What a brand name guy would do, so too will a generic guy.
The only real difference will be that, unlike the brand name man, the generic man will be something of a spendthrift. Instead of driving an expensive BMW, he'll putt along in an economical Ford. Instead of owning a nice house in the 'burbs with a white wooden picket fence, he'll buy half a duplex near the industrial zoned area of town. Instead of buying the kids brand name clothing for school, he'll shop at the flea market and look for "knock-offs."
Oh, and I guess this is important, when you decide to cash in a generic husband by divorcing him, well there won't be as big a payday as you might have hoped for. Something to keep in mind , but all in all, a generic man is really not a bad deal, considering he will cost much less in those bothersome, time-consuming sexual demands and will require little, if any, emotional commitment.
I have to go. Time for a bowl of the not-quite-good-enough generic granola that I bought several weeks ago. After all, someone has to eat it ...
The generic man!! Lmao. Well I like imagination but can go without the big name brand fiascos Hmmm something to ponder. I can't give up imagination. I'd be bored to tears.
ReplyDeleteAs far as generics, I buy them. I've had patients say there is a difference but it's supposed to be made with the same ingredients. So I spoke with drug companies,,, reps admit there's extras in their products. Hmmmm well something to ponder. Smiles. Gm.
"extras"
DeleteHmmm ... now that makes one wonder what these extras are ... a little heroin? to make the day seem a bit better?
Gm
Supposedly they have longer half life's which means they last longer. Evidently. Hmm food for thought. When someone says the generic doesn't work, I believe them.
DeleteI'm not a fan of generic prescription drugs ... less whoomp for the buck, I suspect ...
Deletegeneric is a hit or miss, sometimes they are just as good and sometimes not so much...someone once told me the ingredients may be the same but are the mixed the same way?...or maybe instead of using a certain quality tomato the generic soup uses lower grade? something to think about...
ReplyDeleteI love this song, for the longest time I couldn't figure out if they were saying checks or chics for free :p
I suspect you may be right about the lesser "quality" of the ingredients ... or is the extra cost just about the packaging and the advertising ...
DeleteChicks for free ... haha ... tough to find this video, because it's been blacklisted on YouTube ... language issues, I guess ...
They cost more and I do buy generic products too. However you do pay for brand quality. ESP when it comes to certain products.
DeleteI have used generic drugs and they've worked, and are cheaper. I've eaten some generic foods, but I'm more picky about those--there are differences between the generics, so I tend to prefer the name brands. Folger's isn't one of them. LOL
ReplyDeleteI use generic drugs like ASA ... seems the same to me ...
DeleteHaha ... Folgers was just an example ... I actually buy high-end imported coffees ... my one indulgence ...
There are two orange juice plants that a friend of mine has toured and they both admit during the tour that the orange juice in the store brand cartons was the exact same orange juice that is in one of the pricier brand cartons. But I guess store brand is a brand, not generic. I have had some very good generic brands and some not so good, but same as name brands. I buy generic ibuprofen and it does the job, so as long as it works I am willing to keep buying it.
ReplyDeleteAs for generic men, well, if the parts work, that is good enough :-P
"As for generic men, well, if the parts work, that is good enough"
DeleteWell, yes, exactly ... hahaha ...
I buy generic prescription medication if it's available. In fact, I insist on it because of the cost. As for generic store brands, it's usually a trial and error situation for me. Target has a good grocery store brand while Winn-Dixie's store brand isn't that great. There are other items that I buy strictly by the name brand ... like toilet paper and Kleenex.
ReplyDeleteGeneric man sounds like a sensible guy ... kind of like sensible shoes. I rather like sensible with a bit of naughty thrown in for good measure.
Generic man only buys shoes from Payless ... so, yes, very sensible, and, alas, not naughty at all ...
DeleteNope no fun. Throw generic out the window. Lol.
DeleteDang! Do they ALL wash the whites with the coloreds?!!
ReplyDeleteYes, of course ... is there another way?
Delete