"99% caffeine free"?

[Mojo]

I was in a branch of Cafe Nero yesterday and noticed that they are advertising something called a "chai latte", which they claim is "99% caffeine free".

Does anyone have any idea what they mean by this? There was a trend a couple of years ago for products to be advertised as, for example, "95% fat free" if they were actually 5% fat, but I would have thought that a drink containing 1g caffeine per 100g would have one hell of a kick (coffee typically contains somewhere around 100mg per cup, for example).

[Admin]

That's a good example of number abuse.

Normal coffee beans contain between 0.8 percent and 2.5 percent caffeine depending on origin and variety (source) so if they're talking about the beans then they are just normal beans.

If it's decaffeinated, I doubt that they could remove 99% of the caffeine - "Decaffeinated coffee is not entirely caffeine-free. In European Community (EC) countries, roasted decaffeinated coffee may contain a caffeine residue of 0.1 percent and coffee extract 0.3 percent." (same article as above).

This sort of use of figures is very common in advertising yet they're meaningless without context.

My favourite is:

Woman: How much did you save on the car insurance?

Man: 30%

[Mojo]

That's a good example of number abuse.

Normal coffee beans contain between 0.8 percent and 2.5 percent caffeine depending on origin and variety (source) so if they're talking about the beans then they are just normal beans.

If it's decaffeinated, I doubt that they could remove 99% of the caffeine - "Decaffeinated coffee is not entirely caffeine-free. In European Community (EC) countries, roasted decaffeinated coffee may contain a caffeine residue of 0.1 percent and coffee extract 0.3 percent." (same article as above).

I think it's tea with various spices added.

[Aardvark]

Chai is commonly used as a name for tea in the far east.

In India you can often see and hear the Char Wallahs touting their wares at the railway stations, you will hear cries of ' Char Wallah Chai' on most platforms.

So both Char and Chai are understood in India and Pakistan.
Char is also the number 4 in Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi

[tkingdoll]

Another funny one is when food items like chocolate proclaim "50% extra free!" and people think they're getting a bar twice as big as normal.

I've market researched this, and most people actually do think that, too.

Sigh.

[Admin]

What about SCS or DFS (I can't remember which one) and their great offer:

Everything is half price - then we take another 10% off.

Erm... that works out at 55% off then

Neat little trick though.