Generic vs Brand Name
Generic brands are usually priced below brand name products due to a lack of advertisements. They are designed as substitutes and typically a good option for cost conscious consumers. Many informed consumers go through the generic route because typically they are the exact same products with half the cost. Below is an analysis of drug, food, and drink comparisons based on generic and brand name companies.
Drugs: Generic and Brand name drugs have the same active ingredients. They have equal quality, safety, and effectiveness. The difference is the appearence of the products. The FDA allows Generic and Brand names to have different inactive ingredients such as binding, flavoring, colors, packaging and labeling. However, FDA approves all of the inactive ingredients. Another difference is inactive ingredients may change the absorption rate of the active ingredients. For example, there are certain drugs where generic does not work as well such as in thyroid hormone replacement. Generic version is not as effective because the absorption rate was different. Generic costs about 2/3 less then brand name because experiments and advertisements costs are high. Drug companies that develop a new product receive a 20-year patent protection to recoup their costs from the experiments and advertising costs. The 20-years is the reason why generic is not available for all medicines. Once the 20-years passes other companies are allowed to manufacture the same drug and typically they are made as a generic. Generic if available is encouraged to purchase to save money. For most health conditions, generic brands are equal to brand name drugs.
Blind taste test: In the Oreo cookies experiment, Walmart generic value of Oreos and brand name Oreos had the same taste with many confused of which one was the actual brand name. In the pizza experiment, DiGiorno and general pizza from Albertsons Culinary Circle Rising Crust Pepperoni Pizza, the test subjects actually preferred the generic version for taste. However, brand name Doritos was preferred over Nacho Cheese Tortilla Chips. Many quickly noticed the difference. In the Dr. K vs Dr. Pepper the generic version Dr. K won for the taste test. In the mouth wash test the brand name Listerine advanced mouth wash was preferred over Walmart equate advanced mouth wash. The ingredients were all the same, Listerine won because it was much stronger.
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