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We have become jaded by our constant exposure to lies. False ads that promise more than can be delivered are a big part of the problem. I have never been served a burger that looked anything like the one in the television advertisements. Of course, the items pictured in those ads are probably not even edible. They are props, manufactured to please the eye. Everyone knows this and accepts it. Nobody even thinks about taking an unappetizing sandwich back to the server and saying,"Hey, I want my money back. This burger looks nothing like the picture in your ads." Maybe we should start doing just that.

We are so accustomed to lies that we are surprised by the truth. When a repairman shows up at the agreed upon time, I am shocked. If a clerk in a department store goes out of her way to help me find something, I am astonished. A manager who returns my call has me stammering in disbelief.These businesses all promise good customer service, but the reality is usually so different that we are amazed when it actually happens. Society has thrown away many of its standards in an attempt to move on to a new age where everything is exaggerated by advertising hype.

Even charities are joining the fray asking for money, which rarely gets to the people that need it the most, paying for expensive ad campaigns and wages for those workers who choose charity work as a career. Especially in financial dealings, we are encouraged by the advertisements to borrow money working on tomorrow's dream, although approaching it by being so deep in debt that we cannot get out of the vicious circle created by media power over people, and people's ambition to do better in their lives. Many are crushed.

Perhaps we should demand more truth in advertising. Advertising campaigns are all about sales and making a product look appealing to the customer. Healthy bottom lines are more important than truthfulness. That is what drives our economy. In essence, our lives have become entrenched in untruths. Do we still love that sofa we bought on ten years credit, pictured on the television screen as sparkly and new when the reality is that the change in our lifestyle and fashion mean we will probably grow tired of it before we have even paid for it.

If we do not even expect honesty, why should anyone feel obliged to treat us honestly? Integrity is a word we do not hear much any more. Maybe we should change that.

Learn more about this author, Kathy Downey.
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