Marketers use a variety of code words and expressions in order to perform their magical subterfuge of making you want crap that is really only good for them rather than for you. I thought it might be fun to explore some of these in the coming weeks.

Today’s code: “Clean, fresh taste”

Translation: “We removed most of the things that gave this product its original unique flavor, in order to extend its shelf life and reduce our costs and expired-product losses”.

Example: The new generation of ultrafiltered or microfiltered milk that is basically tasteless. The ads promote the clean, fresh taste that is supposed to be particularly pleasant. Pleasant? I guess if I really wanted to drink water I would have done so, but unfortunately I wanted milk in my cereal. On the other hand, ultrafiltering the milk removes most of the biological components that bacteria thrive on, dramatically extending the shelf-life of the product.

Proof: Get a container of organic milk in whatever percentage you like. It will bring back memories of your childhood and quickly expose this scam. Notice the expiry dates on organic milk (about 2 weeks) vs. the ultrafiltered milk (over a month).