by Leigh Goessl

Created on: March 12, 2010

Deceptive advertising is poor business practice. Companies that engage in this type of false promotion illustrate questionable ethics and give bogus impressions. Unfortunately it is not uncommon for some consumers to initially fall for these deceptions, but the lies and misrepresentations almost always come to light.

When the deceptive advertising is brought to the forefront and exposed, this revelation can really hurt a business. Often when marketers and advertisers engage in shady advertising they only focus on short term and don't think of the long term consequences and this is a big mistake.

There are several differing kinds of deceptive advertising which include, but are not limited to, bait and switch techniques, fake testimonials, false promises, vague descriptions, unsubstantiated claims, and distorted photos and ad-copy. Any of these kinds of deceptions can harm businesses for several reasons.

The primary reason why deceptive advertising is harmful to a company is trust. In order to be successful a business has to build a reasonable level of trust with consumers. Without attaining customer confidence a business is bound to falter in the long run and engaging in false advertising is a surefire way to lose consumer trust - fast.

Attaining a solid reputation is the goal of most ethical companies. This is because these businesses realize that a good reputation is a tremendous asset to have. As the company grows and becomes known for honest and reliable business practices, this reputation will spread in both the online and offline worlds.

Word of mouth is one of the best kinds of advertising and customers who are burned are going to spread negative reviews based on their being deceived through false advertising. As a result people will shy away from those companies that have been exposed to be businesses that operate on false pretenses as this does not set well with most, if not all, consumers.

Before engaging in false advertising managerial decision makers would be wise to consider both the ethical, financial and even legal consequences in engaging in such acts. There are many laws in place to protect consumers and businesses will undoubtedly suffer if proof is rendered to show the deceit. Consumers who have based their purchase on the false advertising often have legal recourse for the fraud.

Unfortunately some businesses have learned how to circumvent laws and tweak their claims to be just honest enough. One example of this would be bait and switch techniques that keep one or two items in stock, but no more than that, then they work to convince consumers to purchase the more expensive items which do happen to be in stock. Another example would be in food ingredients, i.e. "made with real fruit", but come to learn there is only 2% fruit content in the food.

In both cases there is just enough truth to avoid breaking laws, but it's not really honest either.

The bottom line is deceptive advertising might fool some people and these crooks can make a quick buck initially, but in the long run, slow and steady wins the race. Honesty will eventually trump deceit every time.  Successful businesses focus on quality and guarantees and stand behind their word; these companies will prosper for much longer than scammers who are looking to cheat and profit off others.

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