The number of variants of essentially the exact same product proves completely bamboozling for YouTuber Peter_Draws, an illustrator whose sideline in videos pointing out the ridiculous array of similar SKUs in several grocery categories are proving popular.
Take toothpaste. “I’ve been a Crest guy for a long time,” he says, “but I don’t even know which is the regular one any more.”
As he peruses a supermarket bay he finds Crest Plus, Crest Plus + Whitening (“someone check the math on this one”), Crest Plus Active Foam + Whitening, Crest Pro Health, Crest Pro Health Advanced Gum Protection, Crest Advanced Radiant Mint with Stain Blasting Foam, Crest Advanced Charcoal…and that’s not even the half of it.
As a passing shopper notes: “It used to be Crest or Colgate.”
In another video he dissects the “toilet paper math” brands put on pack to indicate one of the rolls inside is the equivalent of X number of regular rolls. “All of these rolls are being compared to some vague, elusive, regular roll, that as far as I can tell doesn’t exist anywhere,” he says. He certainly can’t find it. “This is the regular roll now. It should just say 12 = 12.”
It’s a comedic but searing skewering of on-pack claims – possibly more prevalent in the US stores he visits than the UK – that questions what seemingly positive claims like “50% less scrubbing” actually mean. And how much better than Dawn Platinum is its shelfmate Dawn Platinum Plus Powersuds 2x Suds really? Does the former exist “just to make this one look better”?
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