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The Matchbox Pattern Trick

GNC

King-Sized Canary
Joined
Aug 25, 2001
Messages
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Can't find a mention of this one: a matchbox company in the 20th Century found sales were going down, so devised a sneaky way to get them going back up again. They printed the same pattern on the top and bottom of the matchbox, so that the buyer would open them the wrong way around some of the time, and the matches would fall out onto the floor or ground, thereby necessitating the purchase of more. This worked out for the company.

Any truth to that? The problem as far as I can see would be: what's to stop the buyer from picking the dropped matches up? Unless they went in a puddle, perhaps.
 
New one on me too.
I was little when I heard the one about a man approaching the Swan Vesta match company with an idea to save them a million pounds a year and he only wanted £100,000 for it. I do remember there used to be a sandpaper strike on both sides of the box, but then there was a strike only on one side and cardboard strip on the other.
 
New one on me too.
I was little when I heard the one about a man approaching the Swan Vesta match company with an idea to save them a million pounds a year and he only wanted £100,000 for it. I do remember there used to be a sandpaper strike on both sides of the box, but then there was a strike only on one side and cardboard strip on the other.
Yes, I've heard that one. A bit like how removing just one olive from aeroplane meals saved millions of dollars.
 
Yes, I've heard that one. A bit like how removing just one olive from aeroplane meals saved millions of dollars.
McDonald's saved a lot of money by taking out the pickle - thinking nobody would notice.
The pickle was really why McD's were popular in the first place.
 
I think it may have been Honda who saved a fortune by not putting a picture of a cigarette on the cigarette lighter in their cars.
 
Thought we might already have an advertising UL thread ? The man who doubled shampoo sales by adding step 4 to the instructions on the back of the bottle:

1. Wet hair
2. Apply shampoo
3. Rinse

4. Repeat.
 
The man who doubled shampoo sales by adding step 4

If you wash your hair every day, one cycle is enough, probably. Leave it any longer and it seems as if the first dose neutralizes the oils, the second does the cleaning.

I am thinking of using one dose of shampoo, one of left-over toothpaste and one of mustard*, in these austere days! :evillaugh:

*Mention of mustard in this context reminds me that pure mustard oil is still, I think, designated as a hair-dressing product in the UK - for external use only! It does not stop some pesky folks from using it for culinary purposes. Its availability in prepared pickles goes unquestioned. :dunno:
 
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Do people still use mustard baths? I doubt it really did anything other than increase sales.
 
Can't find a mention of this one: a matchbox company in the 20th Century found sales were going down, so devised a sneaky way to get them going back up again. They printed the same pattern on the top and bottom of the matchbox, so that the buyer would open them the wrong way around some of the time, and the matches would fall out onto the floor or ground, thereby necessitating the purchase of more. This worked out for the company.

Any truth to that? The problem as far as I can see would be: what's to stop the buyer from picking the dropped matches up? Unless they went in a puddle, perhaps.
How many people would just walk away from a pile of matches and buy a new box. It is less trouble to just pick them up and put them back in the box. Sounds like an urban legend to me.
 
the powdered stuff

Mrs Coleman's invention, I gather, certified pure, was to grind finely together the white and black mustard seeds, whose compounds reacted when wet, to create the pungency of the classic English Mustard. Five or ten minutes was allowed for peak sinus-clearing pain-status!

I mainly use stuff from the jar, in dressings, sauces, marinades etc. It is helpfully adulterated with sugar and salt, so it can be enjoyed straight-from-the-jar! Well, I lick the spoon, anyway.

Now, we got here from matchbox-patterns somehow . . . :thought:
 
How many people would just walk away from a pile of matches and buy a new box. It is less trouble to just pick them up and put them back in the box. Sounds like an urban legend to me.

What if the matches fall in a puddle or wet patch?
 
I was told of the matchbox stunt as a practical joke. Very effective played on someone who liked lighing other people's fags. It was played by the sort of people who liked stretching clingfilm over the toilet bowl.........
 
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