Triumph of the marketer's art

MODERN consumer society thrives on the manufacture of desires. Few finer examples can be found than in the arrival on the shelves of the high street chemist chain Boots of a product called "Expert Sensitive Refreshing Facial Spritz". It is, says the label, "specially formulated to refresh and hydrate". And the price of almost £4 is itself something of a validation of the uniqueness and expertise claimed to be contained within.

But what exactly is contained within? Close inspection of the label on the 150ml spray can reveals one single ingredient: water. But in the snazzy world of marketing, it never does to call a spade merely by its name. "Hypoallergenic and fragrance fre...