Things I read in a book today

I've been reading again. The book's first chapter should be called: Dumb product ideas in History. Here are my two favourites.

1. Goff's Low Ash Cat Food - "Contains only 1.5% ash"

This is fantastic because you go on a real emotional journey responding to this product name. Here's how my emotions played out. First: Yuk, it says this cat food has ash in it. Second: Wait a minute, the slogan sort of implies ALL cat food has ash in it. Third: Why the hell do they put ash in cat food? Four: Could it be for health reasons, to add some mineral supplement or something? Five: But then why would this company be promoting a low ash range? Etc, etc.... In the end there is no reason not to buy this product because it has ash in it (if all the others do too), but you're not going to, right? Why? It's called shooting the messanger.

2. The Impact

In 1994 General Motors released their first electric car... the Impact. How could this name have gotten through the fifty three billion planning and marketing meetings without being knocked back? How could the guys at Goff's not think through how most people would respond to the idea of ash being in food?

Here is the answer:

"It was thought that the mountain could induitably be climbed were it five thousand feet smaller."

Summary of the committee meeting in London to discuss climbing Everest in 1921

Which neatly demonstrates why almost all meetings are bad, and likely to produce conclusions that radiate stupidity.