Yesterday, for the first time in 9 years, I bought a different kind of mascara. Not a different brand – I’m not that crazy – just a different kind.

I have used the same exact toothpaste – same brand and flavor – without wavering in 7 years. It’s Crest Expressions, Vanilla, in case you were wondering, and I like it because it’s not super overpowering in the morning. I have had a bottle of Garnier Fructis smoothing shampoo in my shower since I discovered it on my semester living in France – and then discovered that they started selling it in the states shortly after. My eyeliner and foundation have been Clinique since I cared enough to stop buying Wet’n'Wild makeup when I was 15, and I haven’t touched any other face lotion but Clinique Dramatically Different since I started stealing my roommate’s (sorry, Lib) my junior year of college. I will only buy one brand of undergarments (Rain Man reference? Anyone? Anyone?) and I’ve been hooked on Target flip-flops since 2004.

If you sell cosmetics, personal hygene, or apparel products, you would do well to have me as a customer. History shows that once I buy a product, and like it well enough, I will buy your product and only your product for the long forseeable future.

In all reality there are exceptions to my product loyalty: I really don’t care what brands (most of) my food products are, and I change jean brands like the weather.

Am I just boring though? I know it’s not that I don’t like or am afraid of change (at least… change that doesn’t involve increased handouts from the government and massive business taxes/regulations). I’m also fairly confident that it’s not just that I have found the best possible product out there in all of these markets. I really couldn’t know in most of these cases, because I’ve never tried anything else.

But I wonder. Am I a rare case in a world of “You’ve got to have this product because it’s better than the old one” marketing? Or am I a victim of marketing too, just a different kind? Am I the only person Crest and Clinique have successfully sucked in, never to look back?

After realizing all of this in light of my mascara purchase yesterday, I have decided that upon running out of  face wash next I will purchase an entirely different brand and product. Really going out on a limb here. Wish me luck.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 at 2:24 pm and is filed under Life With The Os, Shopping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.