4 out of 5 dentists or 9 out of 10 dentists
This slogan originated in the 1960’s with advertising sugarless gum. Trident was quick to grab the ideal to put into their packaging. The original survey was how many dentists would recommend sugarless gum — of those who chewed gum. Now this phrase have been used on other dental products such as toothpaste.
This is marketing at it’s best. A survey was taken with dentists on a certain product and at least 90% of the dentist would recommend this product. When we hear this phrase, we tend to think 90% of all dentists recommended this product, when in fact it’s only the number of dentists that were surveyed. For example, if only 5 dentists were asked and 4 of them recommend this product or, 1000 dentists were surveyed and 900 of them recommend this product, it’s considered the high majority of dentists favoring this product although in general a small percentage of dentists were considered.
With this way of advertising there are many versions that should be considered. Is it 9 out 10 dentists that would recommend this product ONLY? Or those 9 out 10 dentists would recommend this product ALONG with other products? Or 9 out of 10 dentists would recommend this brand OVER other brands? Do 90% of dentists RECOMMEND the use of the product or agree that it’s just a good ideal to use that product?
With this way of advertising there are many versions that should be considered. Is it 9 out 10 dentists that would recommend this product ONLY? Or those 9 out 10 dentists would recommend this product ALONG with other products? Or 9 out of 10 dentists would recommend this brand OVER other brands? Do 90% of dentists RECOMMEND the use of the product or agree that it’s just a good ideal to use that product?
As you see there are many tricky versions of wording this statement, which can greatly alter the meaning of the outcome. So just be aware, that it’s a great marketing tool.
