Branded chemicals
I had a runny nose, so I went to the drugstore for some antihistamine. Generic store-brand diphenhydramine hydrochloride, 25 mg caps, three dollars a box. It was right next to the Benadryl, same chemical, same number of 25 mg caps, six dollars a box. The only difference is the brand.
What I find amazing about this is that the brand is worth as much as the chemical. I can only conclude that there are two kinds of customers. Some customers, like me, took chemistry in high school, and understand that chemicals have predictable effects on the human body. Why pay twice as much for the same chemical?
Other customers use magical thinking, and think the BRAND, not the chemical, is what stops their nose from running. What’s the point of saving a few dollars if you don’t get the magical brand?
Diphenhydramine hydrochloride also makes me drowsy, and every once in a while I will take it to help me sleep. Guess what? Nytol, a branded sleep aid, is diphenhydramine hydrochloride in 25 mg caps. Same chemical, about the same price as Benadryl, different purpose, different brand, different magic. I suppose there are people who have a box of Nytol as well as a box of Benadryl in their medicine cabinets. If they take a maximum dose of Nytol on top of a maximum dose of Benadryl…