Aunt Jemima, like Betty Crocker, is completely fictional. I don’t see much of Betty on the Betty Crocker website.

The Uncle Ben character actually looks almost the same as he did back in the 50s. The rice was named for a real black Texas farmer who was famous for growing high quality rice. The face on the box is based on a restaurant maitre d’, Frank Brown, a friend of the manufacturers.

As long as Morton Salt comes in that easy-to-spot blue and white round box, they could put Lady Gaga on the logo for all I care.

Betty Crocker is not just your basic Mom any more, she’s a hot cougar MILF.

And what they’ve done to the little umbrella girl on the Morton’s Salt container is really creepy.

And what’s with Aunt Jemima…

…and Uncle Ben?

Somebody needs to look into this.

Another annoying tactic is significantly altering package appearance. I don’t know about anyone else, but the appearance of a package is basically how I find what I’m looking for on a crowded shelf.

“New look, same product” has got to be the stupidest concept ever.

At least in politics, they know something about “playing to your base.” In product sales, that’s what your steady customers are.

There are products that haven’t changed in fifty years, either the product are the package. Oddly, they’re still making money.

He did not push the effort to develop a new modification or packaging because it would serve the consumer, or even the company, better. He did it because he thought it would make him look essential and innovative, hence more valuable to the company.

And if his boss isn’t sharp enough to pick up on that, he’ll get away with it and keep right on doing it.

Its all a function of heirarchical systems, whether public or private: elementary bureaucratic behavior. We can get more done in groups than by ourselves, but we pay a price for it. The more complex, capable and productive a system is, the larger a proportion of its own resources must be devoted to its internal management. And there is always friction where two parts rub together.

You’re a Terry Gilliam fan. Surely you remember “Brazil”.

I shop at several, depending on what I’m looking for, ranging from regular supermarkets to places like Whole Foods. And of course, many are pushing “house” brands.

I can’t figure out the obsession with altering products. I wrote a company once a long time ago, explaining that I go into a store, pass by hundreds of other soaps, so I can get this particular soap. “Why on earth would you change it? Then there’s no reason to pick your brand, is there? Do you think I have loyalty to a particular company? If somebody else makes what I want, I’m there, man.”

You can find spare parts for almost any car if you look hard enough. Tell me his car model and year (specific as possible) and I’ll look.

My wife is always complaining that she can’t find her favorites any more. The latest casualty is the BIG box of Tide Detergent, with bleach. We can get the small box, or many other different bleachless variations in big boxes, but not what we want. It would make sense if people just had quit buying this variant, but its its still available elsewhere, just not at our local store.

These are very minor issues, the variety and abundance of consumer products is overwhelming. But what if this philosophy starts spreading to other, more important issues. I understand some antibiotics are getting hard to find, and some expensive machines must be discarded and replaced because of the unavailability or expense of spare parts. I have a friend with a beautifully maintained 7 year old car who can’t get a motor for his electric car window for love or money. He’s very lucky its not the driver door window.

These supposedly underemployed marketing guys are probably also responsible for all the “new” versions of products I’ve liked and bought for years.