Wednesday, August 20, 2008

BPA - What is it and is it dangerous?

We have all heard the news regarding BPA in water bottles, baby bottles and canned foods. The story is that the BPA leeches into the food or beverage that is placed in these containers, thereby harming the consumer. A recent study by the FDA found however, that the trace amounts of BPA that does leech into the consumables is not harmful to adults or children.

The promotional products industry immediately responded to the BPA scare by offering many products that are BPA free. Those products are still available, however, consumers should not hesitate to continue to purchase the old stand by products as well.

Several states are working on legislation to regulate the amount of BPA that can be in a product that will be used by children three years and younger, so when you are purchasing products, check the state you will be using them in to see if they have enacted legislation.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Imprinted promotional products v. blank corporate gifts

There is not a right or wrong answer when it comes to this question. The best answer is to take care in selecting an appropriate item and think twice about whether or not to put your corporate logo on it.
The ultimate success of a promotional product as a gift for an employee, client or vendor, is whether the recipient uses it or not. Certainly having your logo on it gets more advertising miles out of the product. However, that is assuming they are using the product and seeing the logo each time. If they throw it in their box of junk in the garage, or trash it, then not only did your advertising dollars go down the tube, but so did the recipient’s feeling of appreciation.
Some things to think about when deciding whether or not to imprint the item:
What is the message you are trying to convey?
Cost of item (the higher the price, consider, no imprint or a more subtle imprint such as deboss or tone on tone)
Consider an add on item that can hold the logo (for example – a nice duffle bag with no imprint accompanied with a luggage tag that has the logo)
If you choose not to put the logo, don’t be afraid that the recipient will not remember where it came from – in fact they will likely never forget.