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Make no mistake about it, this is clearly a marketing ploy by Kraft's ad agency. They are battling the minds of consumers who are (as of recent) continually see

by mbesto 11y ago

Make no mistake about it, this is clearly a marketing ploy by Kraft's ad agency. They are battling the minds of consumers who are (as of recent) continually seeing companies change ingredients and then be marketed to because it's "preservatives are bad...now with less preservatives!", with an undesirable side effect of "hmmm, but it tastes different". Coke Zero is a great example of this effect. I'm not so sure Reddit's system is that similar. Reddit had a serious issue with search functionality not reaching the desired effect, and was easily circumvented by using Google search directly on reddit. In reddit's case it was about completing a task and reaching a goal ("I now can search for something and it works"), for Kraft this is about perception and desire ("This tastes good!").

draw_down 11y ago
> Make no mistake about it, this is clearly a marketing ploy by Kraft's ad agency. Ad agencies doing marketing? Those bastards!
jedberg 11y ago
> In reddit's case it was about completing a task and reaching a goal ("I now can search for something and it works"), for Kraft this is about perception and desire ("This tastes good!"). That's a fair assessment in regards to the search example, but the move to EC2 example is completely analogous. If we had announced the change when it happened people would have said it was bad right away, but by announcing it after the fact we could point out that no one noticed until we said something (which we did in the comments after they said they noticed something).
- jsprogrammer 11y ago
  If the change was actually good, why would people claim it was bad? >If we had announced the change when it happened people would have said it was bad right away,
  - potatolicious 11y ago
    Because some people love to be contrarian/complain. Some people love being armchair experts on things. It's the same thing every time some major website redesigns some feature - lots of consternation about how the new thing is so much worse and how this will spell the end of the website as we know it. Petitions to revert the change will be made, chain emails will be sent, the whole works. And then a week later nobody remembers this even happened, and the website's numbers stay exactly where they are/go up. Canonical example of this in my mind is Facebook. More recently when Twitter made "faves" into "hearts" - many a thinkpiece was written on Medium about this.
    - jsprogrammer 11y ago
      Yes, but by this logic, people will complain when you finally tell them, too.
      - kaishiro 11y ago
        I think the point is that by doing this you're undercutting the validity of the complaint. It feels more transparent that someone is complaining about the change after it having been explained to them when they clearly haven't noticed it in the preceding months.
  - pyre 11y ago
    It's like a reverse placebo effect. When something changes, people will start going over it with a fine-tooth comb. Some of the "flaws" that they might present as problems with the new system may well have existed with the old system, but they were just overlooked / forgotten.
th0ma5 11y ago
You mentioned Coke Zero. I've often wanted a no-calorie unsweetened Coke flavored soda. I don't know enough about palate to know if something like that would even work, but I think a lot of the flavors I like about Coke aren't really the sweetness per se. I abhor all of the artificial sweeteners.
nether 11y ago
Try dumping a can of tuna into your Kraft™ Mac & Cheese. Delicious.
- jonah 11y ago
  That's almost what I do when camping, but it's Annie's Organic Mac 'n Cheese and a foil pack of salmon. Tasty.
- dhimes 11y ago
  I also add a can of cream of mushroom soup. It was a staple when I was in college. I named it Mancaroni and tried to feed it to my three boys. They weren't buying it. There wasn't enough hot sauce or Old Bay in the house to get them to eat it. But I like it!
  - frogpelt 11y ago
    In addition to the tuna?
    - dhimes 11y ago
      Yes. EDIT: It's condensed, and I don't add milk or anything. I believe this recipe was on the side of the box of Mac and Cheese at some point, probably long, long, ago.
nether 11y ago
Try dumping a can of tuna into your Kraft™ Mac & Cheese. Delicious.

by mbesto 11y ago

draw_down 11y ago

> Make no mistake about it, this is clearly a marketing ploy by Kraft's ad agency. Ad agencies doing marketing? Those bastards!

jedberg 11y ago

> In reddit's case it was about completing a task and reaching a goal ("I now can search for something and it works"), for Kraft this is about perception and desire ("This tastes good!"). That's a fair assessment in regards to the search example, but the move to EC2 example is completely analogous. If we had announced the change when it happened people would have said it was bad right away, but by announcing it after the fact we could point out that no one noticed until we said something (which we did in the comments after they said they noticed something).

jsprogrammer 11y ago
If the change was actually good, why would people claim it was bad? >If we had announced the change when it happened people would have said it was bad right away,
- potatolicious 11y ago
  Because some people love to be contrarian/complain. Some people love being armchair experts on things. It's the same thing every time some major website redesigns some feature - lots of consternation about how the new thing is so much worse and how this will spell the end of the website as we know it. Petitions to revert the change will be made, chain emails will be sent, the whole works. And then a week later nobody remembers this even happened, and the website's numbers stay exactly where they are/go up. Canonical example of this in my mind is Facebook. More recently when Twitter made "faves" into "hearts" - many a thinkpiece was written on Medium about this.
  - jsprogrammer 11y ago
    Yes, but by this logic, people will complain when you finally tell them, too.
    - kaishiro 11y ago
      I think the point is that by doing this you're undercutting the validity of the complaint. It feels more transparent that someone is complaining about the change after it having been explained to them when they clearly haven't noticed it in the preceding months.
- pyre 11y ago
  It's like a reverse placebo effect. When something changes, people will start going over it with a fine-tooth comb. Some of the "flaws" that they might present as problems with the new system may well have existed with the old system, but they were just overlooked / forgotten.

th0ma5 11y ago

You mentioned Coke Zero. I've often wanted a no-calorie unsweetened Coke flavored soda. I don't know enough about palate to know if something like that would even work, but I think a lot of the flavors I like about Coke aren't really the sweetness per se. I abhor all of the artificial sweeteners.

nether 11y ago

Try dumping a can of tuna into your Kraft™ Mac & Cheese. Delicious.

jonah 11y ago
That's almost what I do when camping, but it's Annie's Organic Mac 'n Cheese and a foil pack of salmon. Tasty.
dhimes 11y ago
I also add a can of cream of mushroom soup. It was a staple when I was in college. I named it Mancaroni and tried to feed it to my three boys. They weren't buying it. There wasn't enough hot sauce or Old Bay in the house to get them to eat it. But I like it!
- frogpelt 11y ago
  In addition to the tuna?
  - dhimes 11y ago
    Yes. EDIT: It's condensed, and I don't add milk or anything. I believe this recipe was on the side of the box of Mac and Cheese at some point, probably long, long, ago.

nether 11y ago

Try dumping a can of tuna into your Kraft™ Mac & Cheese. Delicious.