# People will buy anything! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 5, 2007, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-will-buy-anything/398790 "2007-04-05T00:04:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2007, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-will-buy-anything/398790/21 "2007-04-06T02:33:24Z")
[QUOTE=Gr8Kat] They used to. [/QUOTE] Wow, that’s just stupid. It seems, looking at the ingredients, that it’s likely a somewhat useful product (unless the ingredients are below the threshold amount.) To turn around and say, “…and it’ll make your dick twice as big,” or "…and you’ll excrete pheromones that’ll make you irresistable to women,"or whatever is just silly. What, “harder and readier” isn’t an easy pitch on its own? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Gentle\_Robot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gentle\_Robot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gentle_Robot)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2007, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-will-buy-anything/398790/22 "2007-04-06T07:13:39Z")
[QUOTE=Cardinal] One of my favorites are headphones or even _batteries_ that are labeled “digital ready”. [/QUOTE] My new monitor at work exclaimed proudly that it works with Windows Vista ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2007, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-will-buy-anything/398790/23 "2007-04-06T13:34:23Z")
[QUOTE=Gentle Robot] My new monitor at work exclaimed proudly that it works with Windows Vista [/QUOTE] That can actually make a slight amount of sense if it has a HDMI input that’s HDCP-compliant. Microsoft hasn’t started downgrading video that goes over a non-HDCP-complaint HDMI interface yet, but the DRM is in the system to do so. But if it’s just a VGA-input CRT or something, yeah, that’s crap. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2007, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-will-buy-anything/398790/24 "2007-04-06T18:14:11Z")
[QUOTE=Push You Down] ..How can I be the first to mention “Head On” It apparently includes 1% of whatever ingredient is supposed to help your headaches. The other 99%…wax. [/QUOTE] While there’s a great deal of criticism due for Head On, that ain’t it. 1% is actually a very reasonable concentration for an active ingredient in any topical dosage form, provided that it actually makes its way past the stratum corneum (“horny layer,” the top layer of skin, which holds in moisture and prevents most substances from penetrating). There is no wax of any kind present in Head On; the excipients are: > [@Head On's label](#): > > Diazolidinyl Urea, Ethyl Alcohol, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, Menthol, Menthyl Lactate, Propylene Glycol, Sodium Stearate, Steareth 21, Tetrasodium EDTA, Triethanolamine, Water Since Head On is legally a homeopathic drug product, these ingredients are NOT listed in order of concentration; the bulk of the product is probably sodium stearate (“soap”) and steareth 21 (an ether of stearyl alcohol and polyethylene glycol, having a waxy consistency and acting as a non-ionic surfactant). Most of the other ingredients are preservatives and solvents, the most important exception being menthol, which probably contributes a soothing tingle, as well as any efficacy observed by its users; menthyl lactate is probably included for the same reason. No, the problem with Head On is that it’s homeopathic: > [@Head On's label](#): > > Potassium dichromate 6X H.P.U.S. 0.05% > White Bryony 12X H.P.U.S. 0.04% This corresponds to 0.5 parts per billion of potassium dichromate (which is simply insane, anyway, so the less the better) and 0.4 parts per quadrillion of white bryony (less, actually, since that is simply the extraction ratio – whatever comes out of the plant is present in even tinier amounts). ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-will-buy-anything/398790/25 "2007-04-07T01:26:19Z")
[Musical toothbrushes.](http://www.hasbro.com/toothtunes/) ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-will-buy-anything/398790/26 "2007-04-07T02:03:58Z")
[QUOTE=Larry Mudd] Wow, that’s just stupid. It seems, looking at the ingredients, that it’s likely a somewhat useful product (unless the ingredients are below the threshold amount.) To turn around and say, “…and it’ll make your dick twice as big,” or "…and you’ll excrete pheromones that’ll make you irresistable to women,"or whatever is just silly. What, “harder and readier” isn’t an easy pitch on its own? 😕 [/QUOTE] Once you claim to treat something, you have to prove it to sell the product. Erectile dysfunction can only be diagnosed by a doctor and treated with FDA approved meds. “Male enhancement” on the other hand, is purposefully nebulous and permissible without FDA approval. It’s called a “health claim” in the field, and we spend a lot of time doing doublespeak to avoid the legal hassles and very expensive trials. And it does look like a pretty good product, shockingly enough. But yeah, probably too low a dosage to be useful. If he needed it and I didn’t make my own tinctures, I’d have my hubby taking at least twice that of just the herbals, but I don’t know my mineral dosing well enough to know if that would be dangerous levels of copper and zinc. But I’m generally not a fan of standardized or non traditional extracts, as they’re hard to get right and often eliminate the plant’s own synergistic or buffering agents from the final product. ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-will-buy-anything/398790/27 "2007-04-07T03:40:49Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] [Musical toothbrushes.](http://www.hasbro.com/toothtunes/) [/QUOTE] I had one when I was little, although mine didn’t claim to have “music in your mouth” – I think the speaker was down on the other end. The idea was that the song was 3 minutes long (or 2, whatever), which is about how long you should spend brushing your teeth. Plus, you can’t blame kids for wanting silly things – they’re just kids! If you want to argue that parents shouldn’t cave in, then I might agree. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-will-buy-anything/398790/28 "2007-04-07T19:37:47Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] f he needed it and I didn’t make my own tinctures, I’d have my hubby taking at least twice that of just the herbals… [/QUOTE] Believe me: You don’t have to notice anything like a lack in that department to reap some benefit from a little “extra.” If you have the technology… Why Not? 😉 And back on track: Electric scissors. What earthly purpose do they serve? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-will-buy-anything/398790.md?page=1)