Dear Secular Business Marketing College Student,
Our family was just thinking of you today and praying for you to become an honest marketing executive someday. I am thinking that this could be a rare quality!
Here is a scenario regarding the marketing of house insulation which might be interesting for your state university business/marketing school studies touching the technical, legal, and ethical aspects of marketing.
P2000 (expanded polystyrene = like Styrofoam cup, http://p2insulation.com/) is being marketed as a having a "system R-value of 27 per inch" This is nine times better than fiberglass, five times better than extruded polystyrene (closed cell), four times better than closed cell spray foams, and four times better than poly-iso (which looks similar to P2000).
Since the P2000 looked so much like the poly-iso sold at Menards, I thought I would call the manufacturer of the poly-iso (John Manville, http://jm.com) to see what the competitor could tell me about P2000. He confirmed my suspicions and pointed to a publication of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, http://www.nrel.gov/buildings/pdfs/edu_0906.pdf). The manufacturer of P2000 admits in writing that EPS without the facings is R4 which is the value which can be compared with the other materials. The poly-iso is R6.5 and is the cheapest alternative at $.26 per square foot for R4 equivalent where the P2000 is $.83 per square foot R4 equivalent.
Another aspect that arose my curiosity was the fact that a local P2000 salesman had the time, assume compensated via sales, to come to our house and promote P2000, meaning that the price and profit had to be high enough to cover such a proactive sales force.
The large amount of sales literature was also curious with the emphasis on "system" and some unique testing of P2000, which doesn't seem to show the same "system" testing of fiberglass or other materials like poly-iso. I am thinking that if the same system testing was done on fiberglass or the poly-iso, that the results would be amazing too!
I was nearly sold on P2000. Image getting a genuine R27 per inch, a dream come true, or disingenuous marketing! Was I lied to or just "led to believe that P2000 had a higher R value?" Is there a difference between those two?
From the philosophical perspective, one could also study the phenomenon of "white lies" in marketing, which can be compared to what Muslims and others caught in relativism do when they telling someone what they what to hear and think that is truth.
LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved. Psalm 15
Its beginning to look like we may go to Menards or the local lumber yard for the foil faced poly-iso and make a cheaper high R value "system."
15 January 2006 JPB
