Buyer Beware

Excuse my logic but the transparency of some advertising campaigns leaves me in stitches.  Some are listed below.

• Ads for these erectile dysfunction (ED) medications.  The ad’s pitchman rambles on at the end of each of these television commercials with a hodgepodge of fine print, which he reads at breakneck speed.  “This product may cause drowsiness.  This product may cause lack of appetite”. You know the game.  However the one that absolutely leaves me laughing uproariously every time is when they tell you “if your erection lasts for four hours or more make sure to consult your physician.”  Do you think?
• Cigarette and alcohol ads that urge the viewer to “smoke or drink responsibly.” Do the people who air this material really care if you heed that advice?  Maybe some do.  However, these companies are just trying to advertise their brand and get more and more people hooked on their product.

 

• Other ads that do like the ED people I mentioned above. At the end of the ad, the speaker lists off so many dangers to your health, or other disclaimers related to the product and at such infinitesimal speed that only a robot would be able to remember everything the guy says.  It’s all designed to indemnify the company that makes the product from any legal action on your part if said product causes you harm.
• Last but not least, those BP commercials that urge us to come back down to theGulf of Mexico and enjoy some “Gulf Shrimp.”  “Shrimp has never been better,” claim these ads.  I did a little checking on some scenarios.  White Shrimp, the Gulf’s specialty are bottom feeders. So you may think, well all the oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is on top of the ocean so no big deal.  This could be true.  Oil has a specific gravity which is less than that of water. So it floats. However, what I have read tells me that if lighter substances within the oil evaporate, the remaining substances in the oil will have a higher specific gravity than water and sink as if they were the Titanic.  Ergo, the bottom of ocean where the Shrimp eat gets affected.  There’s also another process known as emulsification in which mixtures of small droplets of oil and water occur.  These droplets can cause oil to sink to the ocean floor as well. The result is the water’s surface looks clean but the dangerous stuff lurks beneath.  Still want to taste that shrimp?  The government tells us all the shrimp is safe to eat.  Onetime EPA Secretary Christie Whitman told 911 cleanup workers they were safe and we now know what a hoax that was.  Are the shrimp as we’re told safe to eat or is this government misinformation?

 The bottom line on some advertising then is you had better read between the lines.

 

 

Copyright 2012; Greg S.