Complicate the simple stuff, and profit
I’m always on the lookout for products that make me question the schooling I so painfully received over a long period of time. One of the best places to get that “dazed and confused” feeling: the local grocery store.
Today was my first real chance to go shopping for basic foodstuffs this summer (thank you, restaurateurs of the region). On one shelf, a large glass jar labelled “New Zealand Organic Sea Salts” piqued my curiosity. Wouldn’t buying salt from the other side of the world signal that my carbon footprint is large and heavy? Isn’t salt a mineral (grade two, NaCl)? When does a mineral become organic? Is this groundup sea creature bodies? Wait, that’s coral…
A quick Internet search brought up a page of marketing speak that I’d love to quote, verbatim, if only to see my computer burst into flames.
Some questions: if you wash salt, don’t you get sea water (sort of)? When you re-evaporate that salt, is it different from the product this company is hawking (no disrespect to Stephen H_)? Does the inflated value attached to that jar of white crystals accurately reflect the cost of shipping? Will I notice a difference in flavour, when I sprinkle it on my slice of pizza?
Remember, if the marketers of this world can find a way to complicate a simple thing, they will. The cost to you will rise in direct ratio to their profit margin. Keep things simple, folks. Buy cheap salt, and run your own tests… and for the nutrition junkies, NaCl should be 50% sodium, or you are not getting your money’s worth.
