Buzz
The sole aim of businesses is to generate profits. To achieve this, they often resort to extreme measures, including deceiving customers or employing tactics that exist in a legal gray area.
Large corporations guard numerous secrets to prevent consumers from uncovering their strategies. Once these tactics are revealed, we might reduce our spending or cease buying their products entirely. Despite their efforts, we’ve uncovered 10 of these closely guarded secrets.
10. Supermarkets Use Carbon Monoxide to Enhance Meat’s Red Appearance
Do you associate the vibrant red color of meat with its freshness?
Well! The red color of meat isn’t always a sign of freshness. Supermarkets often treat meat with carbon monoxide—the same toxic gas found in car exhaust—to maintain its red appearance. This means the meat can stay red even when it’s no longer fresh.
Naturally, meat begins to turn brown or gray within days of being cut. To counteract this, the meat industry developed modified atmosphere packaging (MAP). By exposing meat to carbon monoxide before sealing it in MAP packaging, the meat can stay fresh for up to a year. In the US, 70% of store-sold meat undergoes this treatment.
Consumer advocacy groups have tried to ban the use of carbon monoxide in meat products. However, the meat industry insists on continuing this practice, arguing that consumers are unlikely to purchase meat that doesn’t look fresh.
9. Cable Networks Accelerate Shows to Fit in More Ads
Cable networks have been discreetly accelerating TV shows to create more space for commercials. This practice serves two purposes: first, it allows them to air additional ads, boosting revenue as ad prices decline. Second, it helps fulfill viewership agreements with advertisers.
The speed increase is almost imperceptible to viewers. For instance, a 30-minute program might be shortened by just two minutes. Though it seems minor, advertisers are willing to pay up to $68,000 for those extra minutes.
However, those closely associated with the shows sometimes notice the change. Actress Courtney Cox once pointed out that Friends had been sped up when she noticed her voice sounded off. Similarly, author Stephen Cox, who wrote a book inspired by The Wizard of Oz, detected the acceleration when he observed the Munchkins speaking at a faster pace.
8. Third-Party Printer Inks Are Just as Effective as Branded Inks
Printer companies often warn against using third-party inks, claiming they produce inferior prints and may harm the printer. However, this is misleading. The real reason is their business model, which relies heavily on selling proprietary inks.
Major printer brands like HP and Epson generate more revenue from ink sales than from printers themselves. They sell printers at a loss and recoup profits through ink. In contrast, third-party ink manufacturers don’t sell printers, allowing them to offer inks at up to 90% lower prices.
To maintain control, printer manufacturers embed chips in their ink cartridges to detect third-party usage. They also design unique cartridges for each printer model, making it difficult for independent manufacturers to produce compatible cartridges.
Some companies, like HP, take extreme measures to ensure customers use their cartridges. They program printers to cease functioning when third-party ink is detected, displaying a message urging users to switch to HP-branded ink.
7. Baby Carrots Are Not Naturally Occurring
Baby carrots are like the Disney characters of the vegetable world—small, smooth, and perfectly orange. Unlike their larger counterparts, they’re prepped and ready to eat. Many fans don’t realize that baby carrots are simply regular carrots cut down to a smaller size.
The concept of baby carrots began in the 1980s when Mike Yurosek decided to reshape broken carrots into smaller pieces. At the time, farmers discarded 70% of their carrots due to imperfections. To reduce waste, Yurosek used a potato peeler to trim and sell these carrots, which quickly became a hit.
Today, farmers grow carrots specifically for baby carrots. They harvest them early, cut them into smaller pieces, and wash them with chlorine to eliminate bacteria like E. coli. After rinsing, they’re packaged for sale. While chlorine is deemed necessary for safety, its use in food has sparked controversy.
6. Many Companies Intentionally Weaken Their Products to Push Upgrades
You might not be familiar with the term “planned obsolescence,” but it’s a strategy where manufacturers deliberately sabotage their products to encourage customers to buy newer versions. This practice exists in a legal gray area but is widely used to drive sales.
Apple faced backlash last year for allegedly slowing down older iPhones to push users toward newer models. However, they’re not alone in this practice—just the ones who got caught. Planned obsolescence occurs in two main ways: tech companies like Apple can embed hidden codes in software updates, while others compromise product durability during manufacturing.
Brands that don’t rely on updates often use subpar materials in certain components, ensuring the product fails after a few years. Car manufacturers are notorious for this, which explains their annual release of new models.
While planned obsolescence isn’t illegal in the U.S., it’s a different story in France. Apple could face fines for intentionally slowing down older iPhones, and employees involved might even face jail time.
5. Prescription Pet Food Is Often a Marketing Gimmick
Prescription pet food, also known as veterinarian dog food, has been marketed in the U.S. for several years. These products are exclusive to veterinary prescriptions and unavailable in stores. However, pet owners might be shocked to discover that the prescription pet food industry is largely a deception.
The sole reason these foods sell is due to veterinarians recommending them. Yet, vets only do so because pet food manufacturers encourage it. By restricting availability, these foods are marketed as medicinal, allowing companies to charge premium prices.
While manufacturers claim prescription pet foods are specially designed to address medical conditions in animals, this is only partially true. The government neither regulates nor recognizes these products, enabling companies to make unverified claims.
Despite the marketing, prescription pet foods contain no drugs. Instead, they simply have adjusted levels of nutrients like protein or sodium, tailored to specific health conditions they claim to address.
4. The Gluten-Free Trend Is Often Misleading
As health awareness has grown, businesses and health practitioners have become more inventive—and sometimes deceptive—in their marketing. Gluten-free foods are a prime example of this trend. The decline in sales of carb-rich items like bread, contrasted with the rise of gluten-free alternatives, shows how many people are being misled.
Today, nearly every bakery, confectionery, and store offers gluten-free versions of their products, including items that never contained gluten in the first place. The trend has even extended to a gluten-free dating site, catering to those who prefer partners with similar dietary preferences.
The gluten-free industry, which has exploded in recent years, is largely a scam. Gluten poses no harm to the majority of people. Only those with celiac disease, a condition where the immune system reacts to gluten, truly need gluten-free products. This affects just 1% of the population, the original target for gluten-free prescriptions.
3. Drug Companies Incentivize Doctors to Promote Their Medications
Pharmaceutical firms occasionally compensate doctors to prescribe their medications. In total, these payments can be double what these companies invest in research and development. During the 1980s, drug manufacturers paid retainers to physicians and treated them to vacations, dinners, and golf outings as incentives.
In 2002, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America introduced regulations to curb these practices. Today, drug companies can no longer place doctors on retainers. They are limited to funding educational trips and cannot offer gifts exceeding $100. However, they are permitted to pay physicians for consulting services.
To ensure transparency between doctors and pharmaceutical companies, the U.S. government launched the Open Payments Search Tool. Patients can enter their doctor’s name on the website to check if they’ve received payments from drug manufacturers. Access the website here.
2. Bottled Water Is Often Just Repackaged Tap Water
Around 50% of the bottled water sold in the U.S. is essentially filtered tap water. The filtration process removes fluoride, increasing the risk of tooth decay for consumers. This is one reason why some argue tap water is superior to bottled water.
Tap water is subject to stricter regulations than bottled water. For example, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mandates fluoride addition to tap water, but no such requirement exists for bottled water.
Bottled water companies often use vague terms like “mountain water” or “glacier water” to market their products, despite these labels being largely meaningless.
1. Software and Hardware Made in the U.S. Are Priced Higher in Australia
Software produced in the U.S. is priced so high in Australia that flying to Los Angeles to purchase it is cheaper than buying it locally. In 2013, Adobe and Microsoft software were 42% and 66% more expensive, respectively, while hardware costs were 46% higher.
For instance, the Adobe Creative Suite Master 6 Collection was priced at $4,334 in Australia, compared to $2,599 in the U.S.—a difference of $1,735. A round-trip flight to Los Angeles cost just $1,147.58.
This price gap wasn’t limited to boxed software. Downloadable and subscription-based products were also more costly in Australia. In 2013, the Adobe Creative Cloud suite cost $62.99 monthly in Australia, while U.S. customers paid $49.99. The same disparity applied to individual Adobe program subscriptions.
Adobe eventually aligned its Australian prices with U.S. rates after the Australian government launched an investigation into the matter.
