This was sitting in the break room at work. It’s a dishwashing liquid called non-ultra Joy.
I can’t think of a sadder product name.
It’s so underwhelming. They didn’t even bother to capitalize “non-ultra.” On the label, it says, “non-ultra Joy.”
That’s like calling a product not-quite Happy or not-terribly Enthusiastic.
It sounds like an example of Newspeak from George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. It sounds doubleplussad.
Sometimes on “Mad Men,” a show about advertising executives on New York’s Madison Avenue in the 1960s, the characters describe the essence of a product, what it means, how it makes you feel. It isn’t a suitcase so much as a promise, for example, a promise of travel, perhaps, or a promise of romance, of hope. I picture the whiz kids at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce looking at this product and going, “Meh.”
Wikipedia says Joy has been around since the 1940s and comes in two strengths: “ultra,” which is concentrated, and “non-ultra,” which isn’t. Wikipedia doesn’t explain why P&G didn’t go with a name that’s more enthusiastic than “non-ultra,” like “non-concentrated,” or “regular” or maybe “ordinary.”
Don’t misunderstand. I have nothing against non-ultra Joy as a product. It’s perfectly good dishwashing liquid. It does a great job of cleaning our coffee mugs. It’s good stuff, this non-ultra Joy, but the name makes me think I’ll find something better if I just keep looking.
non-ultra Joy, now with less self confidence!
How do you even begin to market a “non-ultra” product?
So this is what happened when the Emo generation grew up to be marketing professionals.
These kids today. Get off my lawn!
I should’ve seen that coming.
I know, right?
Buick had a Park Avenue mode l that was enhanced to the point they attached the chromed name “Ultra” to it. I guess that makes my Dad’s Park Avenue “non-Ultra” .
Somehow I doubt the distinction makes either model anything less than like driving the USS Nimitz. When I borrow the car my wife has to waive off F-18′s that keep trying to land on it. I find parking it is easiest when I point the nose up into the wind and bring her in gently to the curb then issue the command “Anchors Aweigh”.
Instead of a spare tire, you could just throw a Mini Cooper in the trunk.
Right, then a folding bicycle in the mini-cooper. Like those Russian dolls that nest inside each other. Its ultra.
Non-ultra Joy should have been named Meh.
I’d buy that.
One more example of how important names are — a rose ISN’T just a rose!
They should have called it Joy, because, now, when it’s on the shelf next to ultra Joy, it’s like saying, “This is my son, Logan, and my adopted son, Cole.”
Wal-Mart-brand Oreos, on the other hand, are called Twist & Shout. Now there’s a product with some action and pizazz! Shake it up baby, now!
I find it incredible that a national name-brand company has named its product something this lackluster. non-ultra Joy … clean dishes? I don’t give a shit”
It has just dawned on me there probably is some federal regulation of dish soap that requires accurate labeling to distinguish non-ultra from ultra. Your tax dollars hard at work.
When “regular” dish washing liquid is outlawed, only outlaws will use “regular” dish washing liquid.
hahaha excellent, this amused me thoroughly. And I don’t say that lightly. I’ve read a good many blogs this evening that have given me nothing but non-ultra joy
Thanks, Ali.
I felt the same way about the Multi-Grain Cheerios commercial: “More grains! Less you!”
It’s enough to give someone a complex….
Nobody wants me, they just want the grains. I’ll go drown myself in a bowl of Fruit Loops.
I’m more of a Cap’n Crunch Peanut Butter cereal man, myself, but I understand the sentiment.
I often watch tv commercials and go, “Don’t they ever vet this stuff?” It would take a group of 6 people to have watched ‘that’ add and say, “Are you serious?”
Obviously, they do not vet names either.
The scary part is they do vet this stuff. Imagine the commercials that don’t make the cut!
That is truly weird. What is the price difference between non ultra and ultra?
I have no idea. I’m guessing, though, it’s pennies.
Great catch Todd and I’m with the HIppy that this is definitely the emo-creative at work.
These kids today.