I know that I am certainly jaded by advertisements that are, less than true. Maybe it is because of my background. In the early 80's I started selling "Timeshare Vacations", in this form of marketing tricks are used to have the prospect come to you for the chance of a free vacation. What we did was probably against the law, however in the early 80's "Timeshare Vacations" were not regulated by any government agency.
The advertising we used was one step short of an outright lie. We gave away a Lazy Boy chair, or so you thought. What they were was bleacher seats that were really called Laze Boy chairs. You know what a bleacher seat is, don't you? Well a bleacher seat is something you would bring to a high school football game. On the long continuous bench that stretches across the length of the bleachers. The bleacher seats had a metal hook on the bottom you just attached to the bleacher seat. Then it had this metal back that you would lift into position, giving you back support at the game.
The funny thing is people would show up with U-Haul trailers behind their cars to carry their new Laze Boys chairs. The truth is you could carry it under your arm and still be able to bring along a burger and soda. We operated just inside the gray area enough that we were not technically telling any lies. Is it our fault that people only hear what they want to hear? Everyone is still thinking that there really is something for nothing. Why do you think car dealers give away free hotdogs to anyone who tests drives a car? Now you can understand that Johnny Lunchbucket', that was our nickname for the customers.
Well times change but advertising tricks do not. Everybody has heard about the Timeshare salesmen and all their tricks to misinform you. Well guess what, they are still stretching the truth, aren't they?
There is a new TV commercial on right now that is a perfect example of the type of deception that advertising agencies use. It is a commercial that shows the all new 9-11 $20 bill. The first half truth you see is right up front. This Government Issue $20 bill is legal tender. It is but the assumption the Lunchbucket crowd does hear the part where the say, and show you in fine print, quickly, that it is legal tender for the country of Liberia. That makes a huge difference in the perceived value of the Silver $20 bills.
Which brings me to the next half truth of this commercial; they say it is .999% pure fine silver leaf. What is silver leaf? Have you ever heard Silver or Gold plated before? Well know you know leaf is another word for plated. So why use this particular verbal assault? Because when you hear the word plated you know what that means, but Pure Silver Leaf, you have no idea. All you hear is Pure Silver.
They also tell and show you that this Silver Commemorative Government Issue is bigger than the paper $20 bills, which they show the US $20 bills as a visual comparison. Also subconsciously affirming that Government Issue is implied to be US Government, but they told you the Liberian Government issued this bill. They tell you the truth, just like we did selling "Timeshare Vacations", but you only hear or see what you choose to see. That is why they can't stop it. It is all there in the Ad, you just didn't catch that part.
The fact is we must have unmistakable clarity in the advertising or this will continue to be how companies choose to market. To have that would kill business that depends on this type of, what I call, deceptive advertising. As a person that has written sales ads, from my teen years on the radio through my career as a stock broker, as long as Johnny Lunchbucket will drive across town with the wife and kids in tow for a free hotdog, sales businesses will give them away.
Speaking of Stock Brokers let me share a true story with you. The broker, not the firm, is expected to generate new clients. So you have to cold call, meaning grab a phone book and start dialing. This is how I was taught to advertise when I got my licenses. I was instructed to buy a fax list of 500 names. Fax a message to half of them that the stock, any stock, was going up today. The other half of the list would get the message that the stock was going down today. Depending on which way the stock did that day, up or down, What ever way it went that group would get faxed the next day, half going up, half going down. The next day you did the same. After 5 days in a row of picking the stock movement flawlessly, you would call the group of names that showed a perfect record over the last 5 days.
Are you starting to get the picture? We get mail in, ads on TV come on, radio ads while we drive down the road. All the time I am pointing these little half truths out to my wife. Understand I am not in the Lunchbucket crowd. I am the guy who can write an ad that will get him to show up at your place of business.