Spot the Lie
I am using an article about advertising in my next edition of the church newsletter. It's taken from something that Terry Mattingly wrote for Leadership Magazine in 1992. He talked about someone he knew who taught his son to use critical thinking about advertisements. They played a game together which he'd named, Spot the Lie.
Advertising is aimed at making people buy and advertisements use many tricks to get us to think we really, really need the product. Their deceptions are lies.
Today while I was driving to the Y to Aquarobics, I was half listening to an ad about having my kitchen remodeled, now! I sort of woke up when I heard the second reason to do it now. I missed the first reason. My mind was on something else. But I heard, Second, my recipes taste better when I make them in a newly remodeled kitchen, and Third, I can buy now and pay later.
I wonder what that first reason was. It was probably a lie, too. I know a newly remodled kitchen will not make my recipes taste better. And, thinking that buying now and paying later is a very BAD financial practice.
Not all ads contain such blatant deceptions, but you know what? Even these blatant deceptions grab a lot of people who haven't been using their critical thinking skills.
Submitted by
NJ
at 10/22/2005 7:38:06 AM- That's a good point. We do so want it to be true, don't we. Remember that dog bone thing that was advertised to give hours of chewing for the dog, and it's really minutes!
Syndicate this site
I've realized many times after the fact that I'd been a sucker for advertising, sometimes even just based on packaging. It's easier to spot the lies when we aren't the targeted demographic, I find.