by Eddie Tafber

Created on: September 14, 2009   Last Updated: September 15, 2009

Ask people about their views on the advertising business. Be prepared to hear responses that include concepts like manipulation, misinformation, teasing, or pushing on you products that you really don't need. Sad but true: in the minds of tons of people, advertising is intimately associated with lying.

The sad association of advertising and lies, however, is not random. Regrettably, for decades businesses worldwide have indeed utilized advertising as a tool to hook people into purchasing products and services. This, per se, is not wrongful. However, lots of times we have heard of companies wrongfully describing their products, services, offers, or promotions in order to create a distorted, yet more appealing idea of their business inside the consumer's mind:

* Lose 10 lb in one week by exercising only 3 minutes a day with our exclusive, state-of-the-art weight loss program!

* Study Russian with course and become fluent in only two weeks!

* At Best Burger, we care about your health and we only use the finest ingredients to prepare our ultra cheap burgers!

*If you can write your name, you can write a book! Have it published in less than a month!

Yeah right. But will this trend of lying to sell will ever stop?

Maybe it won't ever come to a full stop, but it can certainly improve. Some years ago (probably decades now), governments around the world took actionable steps in regulating advertising methods and conveying information to potential customers. These regulations were designed to ensure that audiences are better informed about the products or services that companies promote, and their pros and cons. For instance, cigarette companies labelling their products as being a risk to develop lung cancer, or stamping tags on alcoholic beverages stating that these products are harmful if consumed carelessly were, at their time, big improvements for the truthful promotion of products. This also led to better informed decisions from consumers.

Nevertheless, some industries have found loopholes to keep promoting their products in misleading ways. Up to this day, it is still sadly common to watch, read, and listen to misleading ads everywhere (on the TV, on the radio, billboards, online clips, brochures, etc). During the last decades, ads have evolved from being just ways to promote products and services, to become sources of mistrust and misinformation.

Fortunately, the bad times won't last forever. Advertising (just like any other business) is an ever-evolving industry,

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