False Advertising Americas Enemy

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Misleading ads are very common especially on TV. Everyday whether we are paying attention or not we are flooded by commercials always trying to get us to buy something, it’s part of capitalism. But what we don’t always realize is that many ads can be quite sneaky and misleading. All an advertiser needs to do is convince you that buying a product will improve your life. Certain companies will go to different lengths that push the boundaries were their ads become borderline lying. Over the years many consumer protection laws have been established due to the recklessness of companies pushing their products on the public.

An example of very misleading product advertisement is for body spray and washes products such as Axe and Old Spice. In the television commercials you commonly see the product being used then swarms of attractive women come running to the guy that used it. Those ads are targeted to men to make them think if they use these products they will automatically get girls to like them. This is very misleading because the company makes it seem like a guarantee that girls will come to you. This is a very misleading way of advertising and it is very effective. Additionally on the product bottles there is a little label that says something to the extent of “warning girls will be attracted to you.” Many body products usually for males use these tactics to see successfully.

            A classic example of misleading or false advertising is infomercials on late night TV. The main goal is to sell a product by giving you as much information as possible and try and show it to you in action. 9 out of 10 times a product sold on TV is nothing like the commercial makes it out to be. If you go to garage sales across America you will see tons of products that are sold primarily on TV because they usually turn out to be garbage. All the hype the advertising produces is misleading because the products never live up to the claims they make. This example of false advertising is usually seen with exercise machines and weight loss products. The commercials will show before and after pictures of people they claimed used it but there never is a guarantee. The advertisers know how to play off of peoples insecurities to get them to buy products that just don’t work the way they claim.

The last major example is food products. Really fatty and un-healthy products will put advertisements on the product like low fat or no Trans fat. They put these statements on the front, its true but it misleads the buyer to thinking that the product is not bad for you when there are a ton of other things that will hurt you. This advertising makes products that are not healthy appealing to those looking for something tasty but are watching their health. Advertising like this can be harmful to people, advertisers know that much of the population is not educated enough to see through the sneaky ways of advertising.

            Misleading and false advertising is common in our daily lives and most people at some time or another have fallen for it. In times like these especially everyone should get their money’s worth out of a product. Many products involved with sketchy advertising are usually scams or not quality based. We live in a society were in order for an entire product to be recalled there has to be something deadly about it, if it’s just garbage consumers have to live with it. There should be much more awareness of how much money is wasted every year by Americans on bad products due to misleading advertising.

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