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Horlicks, a drink Brits go to bed with and Indians wake up with

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Re: Horlicks, a drink Brits go to bed with and Indians wake up with

#91

Post by sidlls »

siddarthd2919 wrote: post #31
rayiner wrote: post #8

We used to drink Horlicks in Bangladesh, where it was - like in India - a breakfast drink. Of course, Horlicks has no special powers to do anything, certainly not any of the things it is marketed as doing. It's a potent example of the insidiousness of marketing: pretty much everywhere in the U.K. and the former British Empire people associate this product with qualities it simply does not possess. Not only that, they…

I feel stupid for all the time we have bought Horlicks for people that are sick and hospitalized in India. I wish they called out marketing in India like they do in the US.

Why feel stupid? Marketing of this sort is designed and implemented to catch as many people in its net as possible, no matter how smart they are otherwise. The best marketing (from their perspective) is when it reaches a point where people simply don't even consider questioning it because it's been so pervasive for so long (generations).

Re: Horlicks, a drink Brits go to bed with and Indians wake up with

#92

Post by failrate »

LeifCarrotson wrote: post #72
roystonvassey wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My not-so-perfect heuristic for eating - if it's marketed and advertised at least in 2 forms of media, I don't eat it. Malted beverages, sugary cereal, refined-flour cookies, take-away pizzas and of course, the great big marketing machine - the sodas. All of them meet this criteria and I don't consider any of these healthy.

> and of course, the great big marketing machine - the sodas. I recently read a science fiction story that described a near-future society in which the space race is restarted following the discovery of an alien drone ship. It describes the situation [1]: > With rumours abounding that several South American nations are in talks to form their own unified space agency, not to mention the fledgling private endeavours of…

Red Bull is attached to airplane races both legitimate and fanciful. They are not as out of place on that list as you first imagine.

Re: Horlicks, a drink Brits go to bed with and Indians wake up with

#93

Post by failrate »

zitterbewegung wrote: post #75
galdosdi wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Natural commodities like cabbage, potatoes, beans, peppers, etc are barely advertised. Generally, if it's something anyone can make and there's no good way to differentiate it, there's not much point doing much marketing. Can't speak for the OP but maybe this is what they meant?

I have seen potatoes from Idaho advertised, Avocados from Mexico and Milk from California Cows. So Natural commodities are marketed this way.

Maybe we should eat more turnips and string beans?

Re: Horlicks, a drink Brits go to bed with and Indians wake up with

#94

Post by vkou »

deepGem wrote: post #76
rayiner wrote: post #8

We used to drink Horlicks in Bangladesh, where it was - like in India - a breakfast drink. Of course, Horlicks has no special powers to do anything, certainly not any of the things it is marketed as doing. It's a potent example of the insidiousness of marketing: pretty much everywhere in the U.K. and the former British Empire people associate this product with qualities it simply does not possess. Not only that, they…

Quite honestly, I question the need to drink milk. I think it's another marketing gimmick that pushes parents to feed kids with milk. I'm yet to come across a toddler/kid who actually loves drinking milk. Most of them hate it and that's possibly for a reason. When our daughter was born, we spoke to a lactation consultant who explained how infants wean away from breast milk naturally. She explained that it's not cow's…

I can assure you, children in communist countries were pushed to drink milk - without any profit motive involved.

I think this has more to do with 'common knowledge' of what's healthy.

It's also certainly better to have your kid drinking milk, over sugar waters, like sodas, most fruit juices...

Re: Horlicks, a drink Brits go to bed with and Indians wake up with

#95

Post by laingc »

detritus wrote: post #69
raverbashing wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can understand Guinness being recommended (at the time), now Lucozade seems just a modern marketing gimmick

And yet any time i ever have a bad hangover, my body cries out for Lucozade.

That's to be expected. Lucozade and similar products are packed with electrolytes. It's basically water, salts, flavouring, and a ton of sugar.

Re: Horlicks, a drink Brits go to bed with and Indians wake up with

#96

Post by TeMPOraL »

failrate wrote: post #92
LeifCarrotson wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and of course, the great big marketing machine - the sodas. I recently read a science fiction story that described a near-future society in which the space race is restarted following the discovery of an alien drone ship. It describes the situation [1]: > With rumours abounding that several South American nations are in talks to form their own unified space agency, not to mention the fledgling private endeavours of…

Red Bull is attached to airplane races both legitimate and fanciful. They are not as out of place on that list as you first imagine.

Not to mention the Felix Baumgartner jump[0], which was organized/sponsored by Red Bull.

[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Bull_Stratos

Re: Horlicks, a drink Brits go to bed with and Indians wake up with

#97

Post by andy_boot »

deepGem wrote: post #76
rayiner wrote: post #8

We used to drink Horlicks in Bangladesh, where it was - like in India - a breakfast drink. Of course, Horlicks has no special powers to do anything, certainly not any of the things it is marketed as doing. It's a potent example of the insidiousness of marketing: pretty much everywhere in the U.K. and the former British Empire people associate this product with qualities it simply does not possess. Not only that, they…

Quite honestly, I question the need to drink milk. I think it's another marketing gimmick that pushes parents to feed kids with milk. I'm yet to come across a toddler/kid who actually loves drinking milk. Most of them hate it and that's possibly for a reason. When our daughter was born, we spoke to a lactation consultant who explained how infants wean away from breast milk naturally. She explained that it's not cow's…

It is true that milk is a good source of vitamin D and calcium. It helps prevent things like Rickets which was why it was mandatory in schools when I was young.

It is also one of the few non-sugary examples of a kids drink so I'm quite keen on it.

I liked it when I was young.

Re: Horlicks, a drink Brits go to bed with and Indians wake up with

#98

Post by robert_tweed »

Some random facts I learned about Horlicks recently, totally unrelated to the article:

- Horlicks is a form of gruel, but they don't use the term in their marketing because of the negative connotations from Dickens.

- Horlicks was supposedly invented to make milk easier to digest for the lactose intolerant. I have no idea if there is a sound scientific basis for that, but the fact it's no longer marketed that way suggests not.

Also, the uses mentioned in TFA both make sense. Horlicks is just milk with added malt, both of which are full of calories (good in the morning[1]) and caffeine free (good in the evening). Milk also contains small amounts of melatonin and tryptophan, both of which promote sleep, but the amounts are so small the effect is negligible.

[1] There seems to be some evidence that a high carbohydrate breakfast is not a good thing at all, so don't take this as a recommendation.

Edit: typo

Re: Horlicks, a drink Brits go to bed with and Indians wake up with

#99

Post by wiredfool »

laingc wrote: post #95
detritus wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet any time i ever have a bad hangover, my body cries out for Lucozade.

That's to be expected. Lucozade and similar products are packed with electrolytes. It's basically water, salts, flavouring, and a ton of sugar.

Pretty sure there's caffeine in there too. It's like orange sugar soda.

Re: Horlicks, a drink Brits go to bed with and Indians wake up with

#100

Post by eric_the_read »

deepGem wrote: post #76
rayiner wrote: post #8

We used to drink Horlicks in Bangladesh, where it was - like in India - a breakfast drink. Of course, Horlicks has no special powers to do anything, certainly not any of the things it is marketed as doing. It's a potent example of the insidiousness of marketing: pretty much everywhere in the U.K. and the former British Empire people associate this product with qualities it simply does not possess. Not only that, they…

Quite honestly, I question the need to drink milk. I think it's another marketing gimmick that pushes parents to feed kids with milk. I'm yet to come across a toddler/kid who actually loves drinking milk. Most of them hate it and that's possibly for a reason. When our daughter was born, we spoke to a lactation consultant who explained how infants wean away from breast milk naturally. She explained that it's not cow's…

I love milk. Left to my own devices, I go through between half a gallon and a gallon a day. With my family (1 daughter's lactose intolerant and drinks a lactose-free milk), I go through about a gallon a day on average of regular milk and maybe a quarter of that of the lactose-free stuff. I am aware that there are people who don't like milk, but I don't really get it, other than by analogy to foods I hate.
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