/pt/ – Petrarchan

If asked, 'family fortunes' style, to name an instruction that might be listed on the back of a shampoo bottle, most people would say 'rinse and repeat'. But in reality, who has the time, energy, or shower gel budget to give their hair two cycles of lathering? Especially when it is patently obvious that one thorough go is enough. What this means is that shower product manufacturers have successfully invented the designation of a behaviour, without actually bringing that behaviour into reality. 'rinse and repeat' is a dangling signifier, denoting a supposedly unthinking, mechanical behaviour that no-one actually performs, at least not unthinkingly or mechanically. Contrast the success of toothpaste manufacturers, whose proscription for their product (at least two minutes!) is, I think, something that people actually obey. What are some other examples of this? Are there other instances of advertisers constructing phantom behaviours, which are known to all and performed by none? What about behaviours that genuinely are followed unthinkingly to the letter in spite of their obvious invention by marketeers? p.s. I just checked the bottle of my 1 litre economy size wash everything man gel, and I note that it does not demand repeated usage. Maybe the gig is up? p.p.s. I can't find a single shampoo bottle on google images for the picrel that actually says the phrase "rinse and repeat". wtf?