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Memories of the 28th Century

Marketing Lies

Rating: 2 votes, 5.00 average.
Beyond fake news and other forms of lying we find marketing puffery:
“The FTC stated in 1984 that puffery does not warrant enforcement action by the Commission. In its FTC Policy Statement on Deception, the Commission stated: "The Commission generally will not pursue cases involving obviously exaggerated or puffing representations, i.e., those that the ordinary consumers do not take seriously." e.g., "The Finest Fried Chicken in the World.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffery
This is the reason why advertisements are so false, and people like Trump can get away with This is the reason why advertisements are so false, and people like Trump can get away with lying like a rug. The problem with the FTC’s position is that ordinary consumers believe almost anything that comes along, but apparently the FTC doesn't realize that.

This matter came to mind, because twice this week someone asserted the hydration myth as if it were true. Yesterday a barmaid didn't think that beer would be a proper response to thirst, and that one has to drink water. After I explained the campaign the Nestles had done starting in the early 1990's, she conceded that I probably was right. I hope that was a real change, rather than just giving up, because someone surprised her with the facts.

On Wednesday I had the misfortune of dealing with the medical industry, and the technician who operated the T Scanner to hydrate to flush out the stuff they use to create contrast in a CT scan. I said that I would would have a few beers later, and she said that I had to have water to hydrate, so I told her about the marketing puffery about water, and how Nestles had created the whole thing after buying three bottled water companies in the 1990's. After learning the facts, she looked a little dubious, but I think I had started a crack in her believe in that fiction.

Pseudo-medical claims have been used many times to make marketing lies, but marketing campaigns that use medical lies look and sound better than when a sport's star touts something; The medical patter lends an authoritative sound to the lies. Falsehoods about cholesterol, salt, and animal fats were presented as medical facts until the medical advice to avoid those things was reversed after the facts came out. There are some people who for individual reasons should avoid something, but it is a bit extreme to extend that advice to the whole world. For example, sub-Saharan Africans are sensitive to salt; it raises their blood pressure, but that is not the case for most people. Similarly, there are people who have trouble digesting cholesterol and animal fats, but most people have no such problem, and both cholesterol and fats are excellent sources of nutrition.

And then there is alcohol. Alcohol is toxic, but most humans have evolved to tolerate significant amounts of alcohol safely.

For a few decades now, some people have been trying to sell the idea that human activity has caused climate change, but they haven't managed to find any actual evidence for that, but there is plenty of evidence that the solar cycles and the changes in shape of the Earth's orbit do cause cycles in the climate.

While writing this, it occurred to me that marketing lies are like conspiracy theories, some people will eat them up, while others will wonder about them. Some people are naturally gullible, while others are skeptics by nature. Only gullible and ignorant people use sunblocks, because the rest of us realize that by avoiding sunlight hitting the skin we stop the production of vitamin D, and melanoma only occurs in people who are genetically susceptible to it, and they are only a small percentage of the population.

Then there is the matter of political marketing. All of those politicians do that; although some are worse than others. Unfortunately, the major parties have abandoned actual facts, and we have been left with half wits like Trump trying to run the government. Trump's presidential campaign wasn't a political campaign in the traditional sense; it was simply a marketing campaign, and he misjudged how well marketing works.

Remember that people are trying to sell you things from water to presidents, and they use lies to make useless things look and sound indispensable, so you will feel compelled to buy. Trust no one and check the facts.

Comments

  1. kiz_paws's Avatar
    Don't forget the Cigarette Ads of yesteryear... that rang a slogan that '9 out of 10 doctors surveyed recommended this particular brand'... lol

    What an interesting blog entry. Enjoyed it immensely, Peter.
  2. PeterL's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by kiz_paws
    Don't forget the Cigarette Ads of yesteryear... that rang a slogan that '9 out of 10 doctors surveyed recommended this particular brand'... lol

    What an interesting blog entry. Enjoyed it immensely, Peter.
    Yes, those old cigarette ads were great: "Not a cough in a carload", More doctors smoke Camels", and so on. I think their statistics were inspirations to the people selling ACC.
    This is the more doctors commercial
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCMzjJjuxQI
    various 1950's ads
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8sT6ZA6gqY