Let me ask you this - is a GTL derived Group III stock synthetic?
I have seen people on this very message board claim otherwise, because they're not PAO. Which is rather astounding to me, because GTL derived basestocks are about as synthetic as synthetic gets in a chemical sense.
Basically there's a segment of people around here who feel like the marketing fluff surrounding retail oils is not stringent enough, and they fixate on the word "synthetic" for that. It's effectively obsolete in that sense- they're all synthetic to a greater or lesser degree these days. Nobody really uses old-school group 1/2 base stocks anymore- the various standards and manufacturer-required viscosities pretty much rule that out. Beyond that, the whole "synthetic" vs. "non-synthetic" argument is kind of moot when you consider that the Group III IV and V definitions are based on performance and/or composition- Group IV is PAO, Group V is (according to Exxon) "esters, certain bio-base stocks, naphthenic stocks, biolubes and all other base stocks that do not meet the Group I-IV definitions".
But Group III is pretty much everything else that's high performing- GTL basestocks, hydrocracked slack wax (like used in Shell Helix Ultra in the day), hydrotreated/hydrocracked petroleum, etc... And it's even got a set of performance standards as well- >= 120 VI, >= 90% saturates, <= 0.03% sulfur.
It may have made sense back in the day... like 20+ years ago, to look at oils as "conventional", meaning Group I/II, and "synthetic" meaning group IV/V,
when that's all the base stocks there were. But with the advent of Group III, and especially with GTL and other ways of producing base stocks, it pretty much lost its meaning. And that's why the infamous Castrol/Mobil lawsuit went down the way it did- "synthetic" no longer meant "group IV/V", but could encompass Group III based on the way it performed.
So now we've got a retail category (not a chemical or industry one) for "synthetic" oil that's there strictly because of consumer inertia and preference. People want to buy "synthetic" oils for their car, thinking they're necessarily better, even though it doesn't necessarily mean anything.
If there aren't relevant performance standards or laws regulating it, it's all marketing. For
EVERYTHING. Columbian coffee isn't anything special, and neither are arabica beans. Some of the most highly regarded Italian espresso blends are part robusta, for example. But they market it like 100% Arabica Columbian coffee is super amazing. Or bottled water. Much of it is just rebottled city water with some added chemicals like magnesium chloride for taste.