Have you seen any ads that impressed you in their brazen deceptiveness?

In a conversation today, I suddenly remembered a print ad I saw several years ago. The device was basically a set-top antenna for a TV, the kind you place on top of the TV and adjust by shifting its position. But it was shaped like a satellite dish, and the ad trumpted it as a revolutionary new technology that "actually pulls TV signals right out of the air!!! And to add to the appeal, it noted the $19.95 price was a one-time expense: "You don't pay a monthly cable bill because you're not getting cable!!

I was both pitying the stupid saps who would fall for it, and admiring the company for its ballsiness.



-- Anonymous, July 13, 2001

Answers

Brazen deceptiveness? Hmm, well, a lot of it is cloaked, like those "Fat Blocker" ads in somewhat shady claims and unqualified testimonials, that you may not be able to immediately refute.

I saw one recently for the bracelet that removes pain. It's not like those other bracelets, you may have seen before. This one is "different". I think they said it has positive ionization or something. Perhaps it works though. I've not tested it out myself. So, I'll leave it at that.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2001

I've always been pretty (un)impressed by laundry balls. I mean, Give. Me. A. Break.

However, I've heard there's a sucker born every minute.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2001

I never saw a Jack in the Box commercial before moving out here but they have one that mocks deceptive advertising where a guy in a lab coat tells you that eating a high-fat diet full of nachos and cheese sticks is good for you. The funny thing is how right-on they are with the whole psuedo-medical stuff (middle aged guy in a lab coat who keeps taking his glasses off to emphasise a point, the whole lab setting, etc). The punchline is that the "scientist" is on loan from one of the tobacco companies.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2001

Hey, *I* have one of those magical devices that pulls TV signals right out of the air. It really works!

(Just so y'all don't laugh at me behind my back, I know what an antenna is. We bought this one at Target and it actually does work better than regular rabbit ears, but I don't like dusting that fake satellite dealie.)

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2001

You shop at Target? I thought kewler than kewl Californians left the retail chain store shoppin' to us hillbilly folk.

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2001

David ... that Jack In The Box ad sounds like a riot. I'm gonna hop on over to adcritic.com and see if they have it available.

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2001

Beth ... do they actually use those phrases on the packaging? I've never seen one in reality, but the ad has obviously stuck in my memory for ten years or more.

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2001

I don't remember, Michael, but I doubt we would have purchased it if it had been that cheesy. The antenna itself just fits your description.

Did the ad show that the thing actually has rabbit ears that come up from behind? I bet they left that part out.

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2001

rudeboy, Target's no hillbilly store! They got stuff from famous designers like Michael Graves 'n' stuff!

(We even have WalMart in California, but they're mostly in the central valley. If you leave the cities, you'll find plenty of hillbilly type folks. Visit Bakersfield, hometown of Buck Owens. Not that I'm disparaging hillbillies, you understand. They got some fine eatin' and music playin' goin' on.)

-- Anonymous, July 16, 2001

Sure Lizzie, anybody can throw around superstar names like Buck Owens, but when it comes time to spit the tobaccy into the styrofoam, can you recite the famous phrase used by him and Roy Clark at the beginning of each episode of the holy grail of hillbilly comedy teevee, Hee Haw?

The Subway commercial that picks on the grocery store stock boys, where the guy asks in a defiant tone, if the boys actually picked the so-called fresh bananas on display in the fruit aisle. The whole ad is geared towards making you think that every other business in America that uses "fresh" in their product description is lying. Subway, on the other hand, makes their subs right in front of you so they are indeed "fresh".

Held up to their own line of questioning would the certified sandwich maker behind the see through snot shield at Subway be able to say she picked the pickles she's scattering? And where is the cow that she milked for cheese? What about the one she butchered for meat? I have abandoned the guaranteed wieght loss program offered by Subway and take my business to Quizno's because "unlike typical fast food, QUIZNO'S product (oven baked classic subs) is fresher and tastier".

-- Anonymous, July 16, 2001

There's a Jeep suv ad that they keep showing before movie previews. It starts out with Baraka-type shots of polar bears in the wild and panoramic views of Yosemite, with a voice-over saying things like, "...there's only one mother, there's only one Darwin..."etc., which goes on for like three or four minutes, and ends with a truck climbing over some rocks, and the guy saying "...there's only one Jeep." Seeing it on a big screen really shoves it in your face.

I realize that ad execs probably lead insular lives, but the hubris of this ad is disgusting. verges on stupidity.

-- Anonymous, July 16, 2001

One of the things I miss most is Target. There ain't no Targets here. *plaintive sigh*

BTW, it's not pronounced "TAR-get." The more proper way of pronoucing it is "tar-ZHAY." Tell them you got it at "TAR-get" and they'll think you're a hick. Tell them it's from "tar-ZHAY" and suddenly you're rich and hip.

Ok, so there's not much to do in Ohio...

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2001

Atara... My wife and I shop at the Tarzhay, we find that a white cherry icee before perusing the make-up and motor oil aisles puts the right spin on shopping.

David, so... you're saying the Jack-in-the-Box is being "funny" with their ads? I'm confused... my cheddar 'n bacon potato wedges -aren't- healthy???

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2001

I don't know about the deceptive part, but there is a Diet Coke ad on television that makes me ill. A young woman walks around a loft- like place in her underwear and and a t-shirt and a voice over of a man talks about his wife's underwear and how it reminds him of the underwear he used to see in the hamper while growing up. He goes on to say there's something soothing about old, faded cotton underwear.

All I can think of when I even see a fragment of this commercial is DIET COKE = YUCKY WEIRD GUY with a mom's underwear fetish.

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2001

Athena, there was a commercial I think for beer that was played a lot a year or two back ... it showed a dumpy, balding middle-aged man in his underwear, getting his long-suffering dog to slow-dance with him. I wonder if that brand of beer, whatever it is, really wants to be associated with lonely men so desperate they'll dance with a dog just for some contact.

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2001

I've just always wondered, if Product X is so much "better than the leading brand" and costs so much less, why it's NOT actually the leading brand.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2001

i find it deceptive when a preview for a move has a voice over but shows none of the dialog of the movie -- and then i realize that it's a foreign film, but they're not saying that. why?! i have nothing against subtitles!

(okay, i guess some people do, but do you really want to trick your audience into attending? okay, i guess so.) i think i'd be pissed if i showed up for a foreign film when not in a foreign film kinda mood.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

There's an ad on the radio in Austin now about some hair-growth product for men. The announcer is a woman with a sexy voice who says something like: "When you lose your hair, you lose your sex appeal."

And then later in the commercial she talks about how you get your sex appeal back by using the product and growing more hair. It irks me that they don't just imply that you need their product in order to be sexy. They come out and say it.

Leaving out, of course, that many women like the baldies.

-- Anonymous, July 22, 2001

Sex appeal is a big one ... everything from hair restoration to laser hair removal to cosmetic surgery to clothes to weight-loss programs to cars is sold with that as a message, sometimes subtle but often not.

It doesn't bother me all that much when it's applied to something that actually works or exists. But it gets a lot of traction in the snake-oil market too, and there it's troublesome. If you buy a car and it doesn't bring the guys and dolls flocking over, you still have a car. If you buy If you buy a useless hair restorer, you're just out the money.



-- Anonymous, July 22, 2001