Advertisements – Deception & Truth

I was watching a television ad the other day where a woman was praising a product that had changed her life… defeating incontinence, reducing arthritis pain... I don’t remember the specifics. She was so earnest, so grateful, but all I could think about was the stage play I’d seen her perform in a few years ago, and how 99% of America would watch this ad and just assume she was a real person giving a testimonial, instead of realizing she’s a talented actress selling a product.

While not all ads deceive, there’s an element of deception in almost every one. That’s polite for saying they lie. Do we really believe supermodels and actresses who shill do-it-yourself at home hair coloring products would ever dye their own hair? Ever? An ad like that isn’t telling the whole truth, but we’re so inured, we no longer even recognize the deception.

In a strange twist on advertising the truth, a while ago Listerine ran ads quoting two medical studies that showed gargling to be as effective as flossing. The truth is that the studies in the Journal of the American Dental Association, and the American Journal of Dentistry actually suggested antiseptic mouth rinses could be MORE effective than flossing. A judge, however, ordered the ads be pulled for being deceptive, though the implication was that the judge simply thought it a bad idea to suggest people didn’t need to floss, when we’ve always been taught that we should. And who brought about the lawsuit that forced Listerine to pull their ads? None other than Johnson & Johnson, makers of dental floss, panicked that their floss sales might slump.

God bless truth in advertising.