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I went for some morning walk and an ads captured my attention. It said " ..........naturally (insert noun)". Well, let's not talk about a particular ads but let's dissect the food and beverage's advertisement business for a while. That ads I saw talk about the food being naturally .... On a glance, it indicates that the food has a property inherent to its growth condition, i.e. the properties are obtained not after processed, right? Nah.... I personally don't think it's that simple. The company after all, does not elaborate how does the property is obtained "naturally". If the property is obtained after a certain processing which is designed to produce that characteristic, won't the property be called as natural of the food? As in.. yeah, right, this particular chemical process is used to process the food and the intention is to generate a certain property in the food. The property is the food's "natural" characteristic right? right???

Well, that's how many of us would think. :) But I were to use the same argument, salted fish is also natural. After all, you simply need to salt the fish, let it dry in the air. Tadaa... salted fish, "naturally" processed right? So, I can call it "naturally" beneficial for consumption regardless of whether the processing has this side effect or that side effect. After all, the word beneficial can point to all kind of benefits.

The advertisement business has grown to a humongous business. It's regarded as essential to all business sectors. Every big business has advertisement. Advertising agencies go all out to lure corporations and the agencies promise to increase the profits of the corporations by many fold through the so called marketing effort. Perhaps, in one way, due to the huge amount of money involved, words are being used in a certain manner with the intention to lead customers to think in a certain manner. Of course, all are done regardless of what is the real thing offered by the product, not even considering the short- or long- term bad side effect that can be produced after consuming that product.

I don't really think those advertisement method is going to work for any much further. Nowadays people are educated and organic food sales is on the rise. Perhaps in their heart, those buyers of organic food realize that they can't really take the advertisement claim as it is any more. Perhaps. Nevertheless, advertisement that relies on word play itself won't gain true loyalist. Temporary supporter won't earn a company long term profit. Sadly, that's the focus of companies in general nowadays. I do think that the shift of mindset is needed if a company wishes to drive itself to the future world. Smart consumers enquire and think more. Unless you really talk about the truth and really provide those claim in reality without any word play, true follower won't be gained.

I admire a drink company called Nudie, from Australia. I am attracted by the way they advertise and thus gain true loyalist and follower. I do admit I haven't even drank their product. I only read about them in a branding book. However, I do believe that their product is really offering what it is that the product can offer, that's without even me drinking it! Their advertisement is just so frank and it thus let the consumer connect with the company. People feel connected to the brand. The branding WORKS!! People claim "addiction" to the brand.

This is what a particular label in their product said:

"What is a nudie smoothie?

Fresh fruit blended with pro-biotic yoghurt made from the milk of blissfully happy cows. (You’re probably thinking: ‘Where’s the fruit in the vanilla & honey one?’) Well, apart from 1/2 an apple, employed for its friendly nature*, the fruit is the vanilla bean! Clever, hey. Tall Tim (nudie creator with the big brain) knows that vanilla is the only edible fruit in the orchid family. (Nice bit of trivia to keep up your sleeve for awkward silences on first dates.)

Each nudie smoothie contains good stuff like calcium and protein, all camouflaged in a tasty, sometimes brightly-coloured** drink.

Some other interesting facts about nudie smoothies:

• They are all 98% fat free
• There’s no water in a nudie smoothie
• There are also no colourings, no flavourings, no preservatives, and no added sugar
• They come in bottles with a silver cap (it’s the nudie cows’ favourite colour, and Tall Tim likes happy nudie cows)
• They are made from Australian dairy products and a multicultural mix of Australian and imported fruits
• They really wake you up in the morning, better than a very loud rooster right outside your window
• They do not contain grass (although we can’t say the same about the nudie cows"

Strangely, I truly believe in the advertisement. All seem to be put in a fun and playful mind, which one won't take it seriously except some claims like "no colourings, no flavourings, no preservatives, and no added sugar", which I do believe is easily achievable. They never claim something extraordinary, don't they? Welllllllll, I won't be so sure about the 98% fat free stuff, after all, it's made of yogurt -> milk -> fat. I might need to search for the method on how to make fat free yogurt. Hehehe... Lemme read on them.... I do think that it'll help the marketing if they said "we think it's 98% fat free, after the yogurt's fat content, but we won't know the exact percentage"

That's how a company market itself, that's the future of advertisement. And NYDC (a cafe) also seems to market their stuff using the same method. After all, having used no to little vegetables, the cafe never claims that its product is good for physical health and fat-free and healthier or whatsoever. But teenagers (and often adults) still frequent the place. After all, we love to eat and we want to indulge ourselves at least once in a while. Hm.. I write too much.