Annoying Energizer marketing scam

[IanB]

I wanted some Energizer lithium batteries and I picked up the package below without looking too closely at it. The package was blue, it had "advanced" written on it, and the batteries were silver. Only later did I look more closely and realize that these were alkaline batteries.



In contrast, this is what actual lithium batteries look like. Unless you put them side by side, they seem rather similar. Furthermore, the price is not much different. I somehow feel the resemblance of the packaging is not an accident. How to trick people into paying a lot of money for alkaline batteries, perhaps?

[Delta]

Nah, sorry mate, I think you should've gone the Specsavers"! 

[IanB]

Well it's easy when the packaging is blown up to such a large size like that 

[tautech]

Nah, sorry mate, I think you should've gone the Specsavers"! 

They've been advertising these "green" BS products here for a while now.
Who on earth wants a battery made partially from recycled OLD depleted batteries. 
AND wants you to pay more for the privilege of using them. 

Even more reason to boycott Energizer along with Duracell.

[Brumby]

3.8% recycled batteries?  That isn't much.

What did they recycle ... the casing?

[Bud]

I turn and run for the door as fast as I can when I see "Eco", "Green" and "Energy efficient" products.

[IanB]

However, I suspect the marketing people know what they are doing:

https://youtu.be/8AGSMJojAM4

[Cyberdragon]

3.8% recycled batteries?  That isn't much.

What did they recycle ... the casing?

Crap...you beat me to what I was going to say!

[System Error Message]

car batteries are recycled even more than alkaline. Theres a whole documentary on it, essentially they are crushed, melted down and made into new batteries. If you want to go green, buy lead acid (sounds very contradictory).

There was a test done by some random guy who made a battery tester using arduino. He tested many alkaline battery brands and found the extra cost you pay for energizer and duracel are pointless compared to generic brand. As long as they arent chinese (even for lithium this is serious) than its fine. With some batteries like lithium or deep cycle lead acid going with a brand like energizer does give the benefit you pay for and probably less chance of blowing up.

There are however fakes that are packaged as the real thing so thats a big issue. Usually their packaging is inconsistent as the law requires the packaging to be clear.

[IanB]

But, you see, they have magic rings inside them!

[Cyberdragon]

http://www.energizer.com/ecoadvanced

It seems they are actually recyling the chemicals. They must be either extracting unspent chemicals or reversing the reaction somehow, both of which would take lots of energy.

[Delta]

Well it's easy when the packaging is blown up to such a large size like that 

The packaging is a completely different colour, with completely different text, and one says "lithium", the other doesn't. 
On this shitty 7" tablet, the pictures are smaller than actual size!

Nope, you're not blaming this one on the marketeers!

[setq]

3.8% recycled batteries?  That isn't much.

What did they recycle ... the casing?

The electrons.

[timb]

Well it's easy when the packaging is blown up to such a large size like that 

The packaging is a completely different colour, with completely different text, and one says "lithium", the other doesn't. 
On this shitty 7" tablet, the pictures are smaller than actual size!

Nope, you're not blaming this one on the marketeers!

In fairness to the OP, the "Ultimate Lithium" batteries *used to* be called "Energizer Advanced Lithium" and were in fact heavily marketed as such for many years. Only when these Eco batteries came out did they suddenly change Advanced to Ultimate.

I can see how he would make a mistake at a glance. Like him I suspect that's the point.

[strangersound]

Well it's easy when the packaging is blown up to such a large size like that 

The packaging is a completely different colour, with completely different text, and one says "lithium", the other doesn't. 
On this shitty 7" tablet, the pictures are smaller than actual size!

Nope, you're not blaming this one on the marketeers!

In fairness to the OP, the "Ultimate Lithium" batteries *used to* be called "Energizer Advanced Lithium" and were in fact heavily marketed as such for many years. Only when these Eco batteries came out did they suddenly change Advanced to Ultimate.

I can see how he would make a mistake at a glance. Like him I suspect that's the point.

Plus, the only place on either package that the battery type is noted is in the bottom left corner, in conveniently small and light print, especially considering every other thing on the package is in bold, eye catching type. Yeah, it's the OP's fault for not looking close enough, but the packaging thing does seem a bit shady and designed to confuse. The marketeers are scum, so I wouldn't put it past them. And packaging departments are like web designers, they spend all their time changing things just to justify their existence. And they usually break what already worked just fine. It never ceases to amaze me how many modern packaging schemes are completely useless. Like these food products that keep doing new and improved types of zip-locking. The original type worked just fine, but they never just leave things be and now I see all these packaging schemes for food these days that totally don't work...which I'm sure is desirable on the producers part since it increases the chances of food not lasting as long. I use more ziplock bags than I ever did to put all these products in that have "resealable" packaging that doesn't f***ing work!       

[tom66]

Sure makes a lot of sense to confuse customers and get them to buy the cheaper product.

If a 4-pack of alkalines cost you almost as much as a 4-pack of lithiums, you got ripped off buying those alkalines.

Cheap dollar-store alkaline batteries are virtually identical to premium alkaline batteries, and the only advantage lithium really offers is better performance in high-drain applications. The higher capacity in low drain applications is not worth the additional expense. See http://www.batteryshowdown.com/   (**disclaimer: I used to work for the company that put this together and I designed and ran most of the tests, it's fully impartial and we don't sell batteries)

[IanB]

the only advantage lithium really offers is better performance in high-drain applications

There are three other more important advantages: they don't leak, they have a very long shelf life, and they don't leak.

You can put lithium batteries in a product, come back many years later, the product will still work, and the batteries won't have leaked. That is the reason I tend to buy and use lithium batteries. It is also the reason I was disappointed they didn't work in the BM235 multimeter. Alkaline batteries leak, ergo I don't use alkaline batteries in anything valuable.

[Someone]

Cheap dollar-store alkaline batteries are virtually identical to premium alkaline batteries

Or buy the OEM version of the brand name cells for a fraction of their retail price, despite being the same product with a different market/branding/packaging
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination

the only advantage lithium really offers is better performance in high-drain applications

There are three other more important advantages: they don't leak, they have a very long shelf life, and they don't leak.

You can put lithium batteries in a product, come back many years later, the product will still work, and the batteries won't have leaked. That is the reason I tend to buy and use lithium batteries. It is also the reason I was disappointed they didn't work in the BM235 multimeter. Alkaline batteries leak, ergo I don't use alkaline batteries in anything valuable.

Also some corner case requirements for low temperature environments where lithiums are unbeatable value.

[Rick Law]

http://www.energizer.com/ecoadvanced

It seems they are actually recyling the chemicals. They must be either extracting unspent chemicals or reversing the reaction somehow, both of which would take lots of energy.

Still more energy effective than reducing metals from natural oxide form found in ores.

Which brings up an interesting question: wonder how many Watt-Hour energy go into creating that 2000mAH battery.  I bet when you include packaging, transportation,...  Probably way over 1000:1.

That fat guy at the check out scanner probably used more than 2000mAH worth of energy just lifting his oversized arm, passed the product over the scanner, and then put it into the plastic bag.

[rrinker]

 Magic rings, eh? No wonder they wanted to stop Batteroo. They're already using magic in their batteries and don't dare allow it to be added to any competitor's batteries. 

[Cyberdragon]

I think they are for increasing the active suface area or something.

[djQUAN]

There was a test done by some random guy who made a battery tester using arduino. He tested many alkaline battery brands and found the extra cost you pay for energizer and duracel are pointless compared to generic brand.

this the guy?

[strangersound]

Ave. Funny guy.

I started using generics quite some time ago. Eric Johnson (guitarist) started this thing back in the day, because he claimed he could hear the difference between Alkalines and Carbon Zinc batteries in his distortion pedals. Well, when you're a tone junkie, you can't let this slide and you have to try it for yourself. Well, I'm one of the people that felt that there was a difference. There has been endless discussion about it in guitar circles, but the primary idea is that the carbon zinc batteries have a voltage sag which affects the circuit. It's subtle, but there is a difference. It's supposed to be much more pronounced in germanium based pedals than it is later transistor distortions and compressors. It's even given enough merit that boutique pedal makers actually recommend carbon zinc batteries over alkaline.

Short story long, after dicking around with this battery debate, I found that pretty much any battery was lasting as long as any other, so I stopped buying Duracells and Energizers and just went with the cheaper stuff. And in my regular alkaline use, I've found that Ray-O-Vac alkalines last just as long as Duracells and Energizers and are pretty much half the price.

[rdl]

... I've found that Ray-O-Vac alkalines last just as long as Duracells and Energizers and are pretty much half the price.

Same here. They're probably cheaper because they don't waste money on marketing bullshit and nonsense advertising like commercials with pink bunnies and copper tops.

[Cerebus]

Well it's easy when the packaging is blown up to such a large size like that 

The packaging is a completely different colour, with completely different text, and one says "lithium", the other doesn't. 
On this shitty 7" tablet, the pictures are smaller than actual size!

Nope, you're not blaming this one on the marketeers!

In fairness to the OP, the "Ultimate Lithium" batteries *used to* be called "Energizer Advanced Lithium" and were in fact heavily marketed as such for many years. Only when these Eco batteries came out did they suddenly change Advanced to Ultimate.

I can see how he would make a mistake at a glance. Like him I suspect that's the point.

The standard used in English courts to decide if packaging is similar enough to be accused of "passing off" is that of the judgement of a "moron in a hurry". That is, if it could fool a "moron in a hurry" it would be treated as infringing.