Conspiracy Theory Alert: Why Companies Change Formulas...

[mango387]

I believe that execs at haircare companies know exactly what they are doing when they allow product formulas to be changed. Please note that I do not think that all companies do this, but I believe that most do.

1. Introduce a good product with nice ingredients.
2. People buy and rave about the said product.
3. The company makes a nice profit, but not as much as it would make if it were using inferior ingredients.
4. SOLUTION-Remove some of the good ingredients and replace it with subpar ingredients. Repackage the product with a label that states "New and improved" or "More moisturizing/strengthening/etc." Charge the same price for the inferior product but make a greater profit.
5. People who are not ingredient fanatics never know what has hit them.

What do you think about my conspiracy theory?

 

[AlliCat]

I think that's basic marketing and nothing new.

They do the same thing with Coke. They reduced the amount of product in the can, but charged the same price. It works because no one really pays attention to the amount of mL's

 

[ajargon02]

YUP! ITA, Especially the bigger companies........suck you in then the bate and switch happens!!

 

[Americka]

Many companies do this as a result of rising costs. When faced with a number of options - none of them being pleasant - many resort to using less expensive ingredients, even though it may compromise the integrity of their product.

 

[gadgetdiva]

You're right!! Its all about the bottom line...profit. Many do this and as a sign of the times too you'll see that the prices go up or the product size goes down while the price remains the same...
As a consumer we can choose to accept it or not..unfortunately many accept it. I just left Costco and I cant tell you how many products/stores I refuse to shop when i know i can get equal or better value & quality from a lesser known brand.
It pays to pay attention

 

[Urban]

I don't even think its a conspiracy theory. That's pretty much how it goes for all types of products, not just hair.

 

[mzteaze]

LOL..interesting theory but not really true.

There are two big reasons a product is reformulated.

1) The original contract with the third party vendor has expired. Most beauty products are generally manufactured at smaller, third party "plants" instead by their factories. Its cheaper that way. However, each third party tends to set their cost based on the formulation. Once their contract ends, they retain the formulation and won't just provide the recipe for the owner to cart to the next location. When the owner decides to move on for any reason to the NEXT third-party vendor, the product is "reformulated" because the new manufacturer has to come up with a new formula that meets the product specs from the owner. It comes down to the skill of their chemist to work out a formula that meets specs such as thickness, viscosity, etc. Most companies allow a bit of leeway with ingredients as long as the final price per unit is met.

The exception to this is when an owner decides to update a product line with new packaging, marketing, etc. This generally triggers a reformulation as well.

2) This goes hand-in-hand with #1 - MONEY. The cost of R&D, marketing, manufacturing, etc can be reduced due to changes in the process. Some companies try to capitalize on this by changing the formula by using new processes or ingredients that allow the product to work the same way as before with more efficient or easier to source ingredients.

Thats pretty much the answer in a nutshell.

Consider it like this - you use brand A olive oil but after learning that you can achieve the same results with brand B olive oil blend which is cheaper to your pocket but with the same results, do you continue buying brand A or buy brand B? We make the same types of decisions on daily basis.

Just my two cents.

 

[empressri]

It depends...bigger companies this might be the case. Smaller companies...let's just say there are a LOT of them lying about their ingredients, or just using bases to mix up stuff. When said company they purchase things from go out of business or discontinue supplies, they have to find something else to make their product with.

Anytime something comes out and the maker is changing the formula faster than she changes her panties, something is up.

 

[Tiye]

As someone who walks away from drugstore lines every few years I can say there has been a vast improvement in drugstore products over say the past 6 years and this is definitely because its an extremely competitive market. Companies are listening and responding to feedback coz it's what they have to do to survive. When they noticed erosion on market share coz people were going to health food stores and turning to other "natural" lines - it was noted. Now the line between health food and drugstore lines is getting finer. It's only a matter of essential oils - however drugstore products are starting to smell a lot better. So I don't agree with the OP's theory per se. The prices of ingredients fluctuate everyday and sometimes things just aren't available anymore. Especially when it comes to natural ingredients - supplies are not infinite. So that's one reason why formulas change. The other is no product is static, chemists are being paid to continually develop and improve things and as someone said above - their instructions are also to look out for the company's bottom line. But it's a balance coz the market trend is toward green products - and I think every company knows that this is not a good time to say bait with coconut oil and then switch to mineral oil.

 

[mango387]

Well, the only thing that I know is that when I find a product that I truly like with decent ingredients, I STOCKPILE. I hate when companies change formulas. Leave well enough alone and tell the R&D people to just create a new product altogether not a "new and improved" repeat.

 

[kmn1980]

I agree with the fact that it's all about the green.

 

[Solitude]

I think your theory makes sense, only some companies do improve their products for the better like KeraCare - they are reformulating based on what consumers want (no mineral oil or sulfates).

I also agree that a lot of these mom and pop shops are lying about ingredients. For example, I truly believe that a lot of natural companies are using parabens. Also, when you read the ingredient listing, not everything is actually natural, but they still write natural on the packaging.

AlliCat is also right - a lot of companies may keep the packaging the same or similar, but decrease the amount of product in the package and keep the price the same - I saw a whole news special on that lol.

 

[ellebelle88]

I've always wondered why a company would stop selling something that was so great and either introduce a new product or reformulate it.

 

[Supergirl]

Mango, you have a very good point.