Matt and I purchased an economy-size package of bar soaps at Costco last weekend. I often find grammatical errors on packaging, and I tell myself that the error is the reason the product ended up at Costco. Wishful thinking, I know, but it gets me through.
This particular package of soap attempted to encourage users to use the product each day, but instead printed a very different meaning: "Everyday is everything." These things always make me laugh at first, but then they just make me sad. Even my "This is why this is at Costco" pep talk didn't help this time, so I wrote an email to the company:
I have to alert you to error on the packaging of one of your products. I recently purchased a bar of your regular soap, and the packaging read, "everyday is everything," apparently encouraging consumers to use the product daily.
Using "everyday" as one word, however, means that company is encouraging use of something mundane and ordinary. I believe the meaning you were aiming for is: "every day is everything." In other words, using product each day makes all the difference.
About a day later, I received this generic response:
Hi Rachel,
Thanks for writing!
We will be more than happy to forward your comments to the appropriate staff. Consumer comments are important and are evaluated daily.
Thanks for your interest!
When the company's Vice President of Copy Editing sends me a more detailed reply, I'll be sure to post that, too. Oh my. That was even more delusional than the "This is why this is at Costco" pep talk.
1 comment:
Ah, yes. I am overwhelmed by the number of errors constantly thrown in our faces. Yet business owners complain about the lack of ability their employees have in written communication. Perhaps the answer lies in the businesses themselves. They repeatedly perpetrate these mistakes upon consumers who read them, of course, and see nothing wrong. Thus the never-ending circle of error. S I G H ! !
Post a Comment