New12 -
I disagree a bit. I think that "all vegetable" has powerful label appeal in the soap and toiletries market. People ask me why I use lard - but they don't ask about any of the plant oils. When I go to craft shows, most of the soapers are selling all vegetable, so I am assuming that is what the market wants.
I get what you are saying, but as I said that is just my experience. I think "label appeal" is very powerful and proclaiming "All Vegetable Soap!" really makes it sound like they
ought to like that. It certainly scans better than "Made With Pig Fat and Cow Scraps!" kwim? Kind of like:
"Made With One Quarter Moisturizing Cream!" (that would be Dove - despite the fact that the ingredients list is nearly identical to another of their products, deodorant soap Lever 2000), or;
"So Pure It Floats!" (Ivory, because someone walked away and left a mixer on and whipped too much air into the soap!).
It's all in the marketing.
Again, just my experience, but unless a customer is a vegetarian or vegan, has religious requirements, or has allergies, they really don't care what is in the soap. They care if it smells good, lathers, gets them clean and makes their skin feel good. Sending out many many many different soaps and asking for feedback (which I still do when working with something new) has yeilded about a 95% preference for soaps made with animal fats, regardless of the scent. They prefer the
soap even if they don't prefer the label.