I think that defining business as something that "tricks you out of money" is overly cynical and overly simplistic. I am also confused. Why do you think that everyone feels like they're being scammed? Surely there are people that buy Dove soap who haven't seen the ad. Why would those people need to give a shit about it? Though I don't believe that Dove is particularly good as a moisturizing soap, there are people with skin conditions who can't use normal soap. Sometimes, the choices are very limited. I'm one of those people and I don't give a fuck about the soap in any sort of emotional way. I have never seen an ad for it, it has no smell, in fact, the only thing that keeps me buying it is, it's the only soap I know of , that allows me to be able to be clean without scratching myself bloody all day.
The trick is less of a "haha we sold this idiot a cheap product for a high price" and more about convincing people that what they bought is in line with why they bought it regardless of the truth. For your soap, you have been convinced for whatever reason that its the only soap you can get your hands on that works, or is the only soap you can get your hands on conveniently. That doesn't make you right or wrong; its fucking soap, there's no morality in the product nor in your choice to buy it. But you've still been tricked, because of course there's other soap out there. Who gives a shit though, its soap? And that's where the trick works for plenty of other products too. There isn't enough time in the day to fully research every single type of soap to use and then deal with its reaction. There's so much goddamn soap is ridiculous. Even if you narrowed it down to brands, that's still way more time and money than most people are willing to invest, and they still keep churning out new soaps. So people take a little bit of effort, find a soap that is somewhat in their satisfaction range, and then stop thinking about it. That's fine, because for most people, soap is like...a tiny little itty bitty part of their lives. So the trick needed to sell them on it; tying it to healthy skin, or to smell, well, that's a really easy trick to pull off. Its all basically the same product anyway, so what they're selling is the idea of that soap being something that you value; in your case, it helps with your dry skin. There are other soaps that do that. The trick isn't always a malicious company fleecing people for money. Most of the time its a company just taking advantage of people's disinterest. Name the last time you sat down and had a serious thought about gum? Probably almost never. Its gum. You pick a pack of something, maybe a flavor you've had before, and then pay for it because its not worth your effort to consider the alternatives. If you were charged an extra 5 cents for the gum you wouldn't even notice. Yes its a pretty cynical view of the world but that's basically how I see it breaking down. Various people on various levels tricking each other, most of the time without even thinking about it. Hell, I tricked you in to reading this, giving me some of that precious precious time you only have so much of, even though you probably knew what my response generally was going to be, because I convinced you - through whatever track record I might have - that I would provide some insight in to my views. shouldiwatchthis.net Just saying.