I went to Target for headache supplies. I wasn’t sure what to get, as ibuprofren is hard on your liver (or is it acetaminophen? but that’s easy on your stomach?) or whatever.

I decided simple aspirin was the ticket, because you’re supposed to take that to prevent heart attacks or something anyway. (Plus it fits with my theory on butter: yeah, maybe it’s all fat, but it’s been around forever. The body’s gotta be used to it. Forget that newfangled margarine.)

So I stood at the shelf, agog:
Three hundred coated 325 mg. tablets of Bayer aspirin: $ 9.49
Three hundred coated 325 mg. tablets of Target aspirin: $ 2.39

Who the hell is buying that Bayer? was all I could think. The active ingredients [on that page it’s $11.99!] are identical, save for triacetin, but that’s just a “plasticizer.”

I know it’s just aspirin, but I think the question goes to the heart of the American shopping experience. Why hasn’t Bayer been laughed out of the store? Do product attributes even matter anymore?

This entry was posted on Monday, December 2nd, 2002 at 8:45 pm and is filed under WtF.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.