This is not a trivial question; it is central to the whole commercial thrust. Elizabeth
Arden, of cosmetics fame, asked and answered this question; when someone made the
observation, ‘Ah, Miss Arden, I see you are selling cosmetics’, she is said to have replied: ‘No
I am not selling cosmetics, I am selling the hope of beauty.’ There is a world of difference.
What is the can manufacturer selling to the cannery which puts the beans into the cans
which are bought by a million consumers? Empty tin cans? Ends to be seamed onto the cans
once they are filled? No, it is selling the certitude of trouble-free running to the canner who
will use this product at the rate of over a thousand a minute. It is selling peace of mind. It is
selling ‘uninteresting times’.