Chris Saul's Blog

Monday July 28, 2008

Buy us, we're the most expensive

After having back in England for three weeks, I'm finding some of the ads and slogans in Dubai particularly jarring.

I usually use a laundry near where we used to live - it's pretty inexpensive, even if it's almost impossible to park near it these days. Their slogan is 'only X have the hygienic laundry concept'. Pretty innocent - possibly a classic of laundry related self-promotion.

I was in a hurry the other day, so was forced to use the laundry that's five minutes' walk away from where I live. Their advert and slogan is all about being as good as hotel room service. That instantly struck me as meaning that it was incredibly expensive and that you had to use them as there was no other choice. I crossed my fingers and hoped they wouldn't be too pricey.

Sadly this was true. My laundry was more than twice the price of my usual place and I'm locked into using them as traffic near my hygienic friends means it's becoming increasingly impractical to go there. Sadly this coincides with a whole year without them burning my shirt collars.

Why would you choose to advertise yourself in a way that suggested you cost a fortune for what's a fairly simple service? And how can they get away with being so pricey?