# "Mystery" products which don't explicitly identify what kind they are **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 14, 2025, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-products-which-dont-explicitly-identify-what-kind-they-are/1019627 "2025-06-14T14:11:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-products-which-dont-explicitly-identify-what-kind-they-are/1019627/61 "2025-06-15T01:53:29Z")
Oh I thought that was because of the Triangle K mark for kosher products. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-products-which-dont-explicitly-identify-what-kind-they-are/1019627/62 "2025-06-15T02:04:53Z")
It’s called “replacement” because it’s replacing whatever was in there originally. Maybe Country Crock does not qualify as either butter or margarine, sort of like the way Ratio Dairy Snack product, which says it’s keto-friendly, cannot be called yogurt? (I haven’t tried it; I’ve heard it’s OK.) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-products-which-dont-explicitly-identify-what-kind-they-are/1019627/63 "2025-06-15T02:06:13Z")
I’ve also seen it described as “breakfast syrup.” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-products-which-dont-explicitly-identify-what-kind-they-are/1019627/64 "2025-06-15T02:08:29Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Science lesson: A fatty acid consists Thank you for that. I love the border where chemistry & physics abut. My chemistry is so impoverished. If I ever get gumption, that’s where I’ll spend it first. > [@DWMarch](#): > > Watching hockey right now reminds me there will typically be logos on the boards for organizations I have never heard of who do finance and other things. If you subscribe to aerospace industry magazines (AKA trade press) you’ll see ads where the only possible target market is legislators on the Defense Appropriation Committee. ISTM it’d be cheaper to just hand them ~~large envelopes~~ small yachts full of cash than to buy stupid ads seen by those few _and_ the rest of the teeming millions of impotent folks in the biz like me. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-products-which-dont-explicitly-identify-what-kind-they-are/1019627/65 "2025-06-15T02:10:11Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > They don’t advertise a product or service and they don’t list a website or phone number. Just the name of the company, you figure it out. Seems like more of a “look how rich we are” kind of ad than any actual attempt to drum up new business. Speaking as an ad guy: their target market is likely people who already recognize their brand, and know what they do. Advertising in that venue, for those brands, is about reinforcing top-of-mind awareness, reminding your target about you, and (hopefully) tying in some goodwill with a successful sports team. Then again, yes, it’s possible that there’s some fool marketing exec (or CEO) who has more money than sense, and just wants to have their brand be seen there. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-products-which-dont-explicitly-identify-what-kind-they-are/1019627/66 "2025-06-15T02:17:08Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Speaking as an ad guy: their target market is likely people who already recognize their brand, and know what they do. Advertising in that venue, for those brands, is about reinforcing top-of-mind awareness, reminding your target about you, and (hopefully) tying in some goodwill with a successful sports team. For a good long part of my life I would go to Wrigley Field to watch the Chicago Cubs play baseball and there was a sign for Torco in the outfield. No one I ever asked knew what it was. But there it was for a long, long time. [![](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0321/7240/8964/files/Wrigley-Field-Torco-Sign.jpg?v=1588963465) ](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0321/7240/8964/files/Wrigley-Field-Torco-Sign.jpg?v=1588963465) ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-products-which-dont-explicitly-identify-what-kind-they-are/1019627/67 "2025-06-15T02:17:55Z")
I am not sure if this is a joke or not. The different marks are called hechshers. It’s pronounced hesh err. The most reliable is the U in an O. That is the symbol of The Union Of Orthdox Rabbis. There are legitimate disputes over some items. A lot of American organizations hold that gelatin made from animal bones is no longer a meat product, and is kosher even if the animal it came from was not. There are also a few organizations with hechshers who are essentially lying whores. Pay their fee, and they will certify any product. There are a few vegetarian restaurants in Chinatown that are proudly certified kosher. Here is a link to a variety of hechsers used in the US. > **[Kosher Symbols - Kosherquest.org - Online Kashrus Information](https://kosherquest.org/kosher-symbols/)** > > Click on a location below to see the Kashrus Agencies and Symbols: These Kosher Symbols are approved by Rabbi Eidlitz and the Kosher Information Bureau. United States Alaska Arizona California Colorado Connecticut Florida Georgia Hawaii Illinois... ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-products-which-dont-explicitly-identify-what-kind-they-are/1019627/68 "2025-06-15T02:18:13Z")
Does anyone here remember the margarine that WAS dyed pink or blue, aimed at children? Yeah, even homeless shelters didn’t want it, and a lot of it ended up getting sold or even given to pig farmers. ISTR that “Head On” had a bit of a counterirritant property, which did relieve pain for some people. They later came out with other commercials. > **[HEAD ON](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0HAmqYTJqo%2F)** > > Head on commercial gets interrupted by a man.@shwaebali > **[2007 HEAD ON Commercial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uU2HQkHacg%2F)** > > Obviously I do not own this commercial. HEAD ON Commercial from 2007. APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD!Uploaded For Archival Purposes.(#VHS, #Commercials, #His... ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-products-which-dont-explicitly-identify-what-kind-they-are/1019627/69 "2025-06-15T02:18:13Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > The most notorious example of course has to be Breyers. When they changed their formula c. 15-20 years ago, the FDA forbid them from calling it “ice cream” anymore, so for several years they called it a “frozen dairy dessert.” Hell, Wendy’s has labeled it’s Frosty a “frozen dairy dessert” for something like half a century now. According to something on the Internet, " In order, Wendy’s Frostys contain milk, sugar, corn syrup, cream, whey, nonfat dry milk, cocoa, guar gum, mono and diglycerides, cellulose gum, natural flavor, carrageenan, calcium sulfate, sodium citrate, dextrose, and vitamin A palmitate." I’ll have two! ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-products-which-dont-explicitly-identify-what-kind-they-are/1019627/70 "2025-06-15T02:20:45Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > If you subscribe to aerospace industry magazines (AKA trade press) you’ll see ads where the only possible target market is legislators on the Defense Appropriation Committee. ISTM it’d be cheaper to just hand them ~~large envelopes~~ small yachts full of cash than to buy stupid ads seen by those few _and_ the rest of the teeming millions of impotent folks in the biz like me. One of my best friends from college was an electrical engineering major; after he graduated, he went to work at Data General, a now-defunct minicomputer manufacturer. A couple of years after we’d graduated, and I was living in Chicago, I was watching a Chicago Bulls game on TV (on the Chicago cable sports network of that time), and an ad for a Data General product ran. I (a marketing person) wondered, “why the hell would they bother buying ad space on a basketball game? There can’t be anyone who’s seeing this who would ever buy one of those!” I called my friend. He laughed, and said, “ohh, I know exactly what happened there. Someone in our sales department is trying to make a sale to _one guy_, whom he knows lives in Chicago, and is a Bulls fan. They ran that ad so that that _one guy_ would see it.” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-products-which-dont-explicitly-identify-what-kind-they-are/1019627/71 "2025-06-15T02:23:09Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > For a good long part of my life I would go to Wrigley Field to watch the Chicago Cubs play baseball and there was a sign for Torco in the outfield. No one I ever asked knew what it was. But there it was for a long, long time. An earlier version of that sign read, “TORCO - The Quiet Giant - Oil Supplier to Industry.” So, likely a good example of “if you know the name, you’re in our target; if you don’t know the name, we don’t sell to you anyway.” [![](https://bobrehak.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Scan-130908-0035-Version-2-1-630x412.jpg) ](https://bobrehak.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Scan-130908-0035-Version-2-1-630x412.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-products-which-dont-explicitly-identify-what-kind-they-are/1019627/72 "2025-06-15T02:25:49Z")
Google gave me the answer. It’s a line of high-end motor oils, used in racecars and the like. > **[Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?q=torco&oq=torco&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyCQgAEEUYORiABDIHCAEQABiABDIMCAIQABgKGLEDGIAEMgcIAxAAGIAEMgcIBBAAGIAEMgoIBRAuGIAEGOUEMgcIBhAAGIAEMg0IBxAuGK8BGMcBGIAEMgwICBAAGAoYsQMYgAQyDQgJEC4YrwEYxwEYgATSAQkyMTY0ajBqMTWoAgywAgHxBbK5PnWUxiwb&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)** ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-products-which-dont-explicitly-identify-what-kind-they-are/1019627/73 "2025-06-15T02:26:08Z")
Thank you. Very informative. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-products-which-dont-explicitly-identify-what-kind-they-are/1019627/74 "2025-06-15T02:33:34Z")
Yeah…but you had to Google it. I was going there long before Google and no one knew. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-products-which-dont-explicitly-identify-what-kind-they-are/1019627/75 "2025-06-15T02:39:36Z")
Over the years, I’ve had people comment on the “Phenylketonurics: Contains phenylalanine” warning on the side of diet soda cans, and wondering if they needed to be worried about it themselves. I always guessed, even before I went to pharmacy school, that if you didn’t know what it was, you didn’t need to worry about it. Thankfully, phenylketonuria can be detected shortly after birth, and is very rare, about 1 person in 20,000. p.s. The heel stick done on newborn babies is a test for this and some other rare metabolic diseases, not the implantation of a microchip as has long been rumored. I had an opportunity to ask some OB nurses about that, and they assured me that it wasn’t true. Of course, I already knew that and they did too, but it wasn’t the first time they’d been asked about it. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-products-which-dont-explicitly-identify-what-kind-they-are/1019627/76 "2025-06-15T02:48:07Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I’ve also seen it described as “breakfast syrup.” “Pancake syrup” here. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-products-which-dont-explicitly-identify-what-kind-they-are/1019627/77 "2025-06-15T02:52:30Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Over the years, I’ve had people comment on the “Phenylketonurics: Contains phenylalanine” warning on the side of diet soda cans, and wondering if they needed to be worried about it themselves. I always guessed, even before I went to pharmacy school, that if you didn’t know what it was, you didn’t need to worry about it. Of all the people I have ever heard claim that hey have a bad reaction to MSG, I believe one. When I asked her about it, she gave a long list of foods she cannot eat because MSG occurs naturally in them. Back in the 80’s or so, Chinese restaurants got so many questions from people who knew nothing about MSG and complaints from people who falsely believed that they were allergic to MSG, that most of them put big signs saying “No MSG!” in their windows. I won’t get into “Gluten free”. Yes if you have one of a few rare conditions, you should avoid gluten. If you have a typical digestive system, there is no reason to avoid it. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-products-which-dont-explicitly-identify-what-kind-they-are/1019627/78 "2025-06-15T02:59:24Z")
IME MSG warnings have dropped off a lot but I still see them in some Chinese restaurants. Gluten free menu items are super, super common and pointed out. And I agree it is mostly bullshit. If you have a condition where gluten is an issue I am sure it is nice to see those options\* but I think it is something that encourages people to worry about something they need not worry about. People who truly cannot tolerate gluten already know how to choose appropriate foods for themselves. \*Some places go out of their way to make gluten free alternatives (often for an extra charge). Some places just note what things are gluten free as they are normally made. Something I suspect a person who needs to be gluten free already knows. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-products-which-dont-explicitly-identify-what-kind-they-are/1019627/79 "2025-06-15T03:14:43Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > If you subscribe to aerospace industry magazines (AKA trade press) you’ll see ads where the only possible target market is legislators on the Defense Appropriation Committee. ISTM it’d be cheaper to just hand them ~~large envelopes~~ small yachts full of cash than to buy stupid ads seen by those few _and_ the rest of the teeming millions of impotent folks in the biz like me. I recall seeing ads for military weapons systems (tanks, anti-aircraft missiles, etc., not rifles) on the DC Metro. Aimed a little broader (DoD, not just Congress) but also presumably much more expensive. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-products-which-dont-explicitly-identify-what-kind-they-are/1019627/80 "2025-06-15T03:59:51Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I called my friend. He laughed, and said, “ohh, I know exactly what happened there. Someone in our sales department is trying to make a sale to _one guy_, whom he knows lives in Chicago, and is a Bulls fan. They ran that ad so that that _one guy_ would see it.” That’s hilarious! I hope they made the sale! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-products-which-dont-explicitly-identify-what-kind-they-are/1019627.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-products-which-dont-explicitly-identify-what-kind-they-are/1019627.md?page=5)