by Aaron Thomas

Created on: October 14, 2007

Jaded? Jwt the largest advertising agency brand in the United States, and the forth largest full-service network in the world conducted a random on-line survey of 966 Americans 18 years and older, with a 50/50 balance of male/female ratio, on behalf of Adweek, from Sept 5-12."Survey results indicate that Americans' view of the advertising profession could use an overhaul. In terms of respect for profession, only 14% of the sample say their fellow Americans respect ad people, besting national politicians' (10%) and car salesmen' (5%) " (AdWeek). OK, I'd have to say jaded is accurate. At least they're beating the politicians right? The ubiquitous nature of American advertising is such that it pervades nearly every aspect of daily life. Everywhere we look there are messages. The majority of these messages are designed to sell us something. Amid these messages dishonesty has become the norm.

To understand the impact of false advertising it is necessary to first define the term. Then we must look through the lens created by our definition and examine the constant barrage of messages and their consequences.

Definition: "False advertising is, in essence, exactly what the name implies: the passing off of goods or services (yours or a competitor's ) as something or someone's they are not. It is the usurpation of good will and sales by unfair means. False advertising is prohibited and actionable under federal law and by various state statutes which prohibit deceptive trade practices and unfair competition."
(James B. Astrachan, False Advertising Primer Astrachan Gunst Thomas 2006).

With definition in hand we can proceed to the examination of the myriad of messages we are assaulted with during the conduct of our daily lives. This is a good place to point out that Astrachan's "Usurpations of good will" can take place in one of two ways. First it can happen explicitly. That simply means that the advertiser is unabashedly lying to us. The second way that can happen is implicitly. This one is a little harder to put your finger on. It simply means that the advertiser is implying something that isn't exactly true. Both forms of dishonesty are common. The former is currently running rampant on the largely unregulated Internet. The latter has become the status quo of television advertising.

The out and out lying really needs no explanation. Being dishonest for profit is certainly nothing new to anyone. Nearly everyone (religious or not) remembers the story of the snake in the garden

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