Do you really know how much you are really paying for Colgate toothpaste?
Whilst tube sizes vary from a minuscule 50ml to the 'jumbo' 175ml (350% larger) the actual price you pay can vary by as much as £2.90 per 100ml. From £2.17/100 ml for the 175ml pack of Colgate Total "Advanced Whitening" costing £3.80, to the small 75ml pack of Colgate "Maximum Cavity Protection" which is the same £3.80 price, but costs you 233% more coming in at £5.07 per 100ml. Perhaps it should be renamed "maximum profit protection"!
Even more concerning is the fact that the pack size, the boxes containing the tubes, are remarkably similar in size, irrespective of the actual tube size of the contents inside. If you don't believe me rattle the boxes next time you visit the supermarket. The smaller contents rattle more.
On a recent Waitrose '3 for 2' offer, packets of Colgate Total Pro Gum Health priced at £3.79 for 75ml work out at £3.36 per 100ml. So even with the offer, the price is excessive. This is made worse by the deception Colgate Palmolive use in keeping the box size constant, whilst reducing the contents by 40% - a considerable amount.
Whilst Colgate are free to change the size of their products and charge whatever they want, they are not allowed to deliberately deceive by keeping the box sizes constant. It is easily possible to put a full 125ml tube of Colgate Total in the 75ml box. Furthermore the current size of the tube is little more than what most reasonable people would consider to be a 'sample' size.
Adding to the overall confusion, here are some examples of the various Colgate products, sizes and prices that are currently available at Waitrose:
Cavity Protection; Maximum Cavity Protection (£3.79/75ml); Deep Clean Whitening; Advanced White, Max White; Sensitive Whitening (£1.89/50ml); Advanced Clean (£3.00/125ml); Max Fresh-cooling crystals (£2.50/100ml); Max Fresh -mouthwash beads; Pro Gum Health; Total Pro Interdental (£3.79/75ml); Pro Relief whitening (£3.79/75ml); Pro Gum Whitening (£3.79/75ml); Pro Gum Health (£3.79/75ml); Total Advanced Freshening; Total Advanced Whitening (£3.39/175ml); Total Sensitive Pro Relief (£3.79/75ml); Total Advanced Freshening (£3/125ml).
Put together, you can see the marketing at work. Add words such as "health" and "Pro" and charge 50% more for 40% less toothpaste. A world where everything is "Total" or "Advanced", where toothpaste "cleans and freshens" presumably in much the same way as washing machine detergent!
Can the consumer really distinguish any difference between the various products and claims?
The listed contents do vary slightly, but there are many common ingredients used in all toothpaste.
Does adding Titanium Dioxide really have to increase costs by 211%?
Many people have used Colgate toothpaste all of their lives, as have their families. This must end now.
US-owned Colgate Palmolive's sheer greed in pursuit of ever-increasing profit via the active policy and use of what can only be described as "theft by deception" must result in the permanent loss of UK lifetime customers.
#BoycottColgate on Twitter.
By using large packs for smaller products, Colgate Palmolive are deliberately setting out to deceive the British Consumer an are breaching
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) and most certainly, The
Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008 (BPRs). A business is considered to be carrying out a
"misleading action" if information it gives
"in anyway deceives or is likely to deceive the average consumer" An official complaint has been made to local Trading Standards office.
A Colgate spokesman responded:
The Colgate Total Pro Gum Health toothpaste you bought for £3.79 at Waitrose is a medicinal product indicated for the treatment of gum disease. This is sold in a 75ml tube only.
Our family Colgate Total toothpaste’s, which are cosmetic products, are currently selling in Waitress for £3.00 for a 125ml tube.
Legally manufacturers have no influence over retail prices. It is the retailers who buy from us that determine the final price that you and other consumers pay.
All our packaging conforms to current regulations.
We can only hope that Trading Standards take action and prosecute Colgate Palmolive for this deception.