In todays society, we can see the media and especially social media everywhere. It is the most effective means in influencing people’s mind. Since all companies exist to create profit by selling as many of their product as possible, they are able to take advantage of the media by creating advertisements. Unfortunately, most companies will say just about anything to sell their products. Because of this, there has been a lot of misleading and untruthful factors created in advertisements.
“Weasel words” (Lutz 127) are one of the ways that author William Lutz, in his essay, "With These Words, I Can Sell You Anything”, describe the terms or words that advertisers use in order to convince their customers to buying their products. This is one of the most deceitful things that is more than often found in advertisement. With these words, without breaking any laws, advertisers are able to make a product appear as if they are claiming something that might not be true. Thus creating a misleading or untruthful information. Although it is very smart for advertisers to be able to think of these words and to be able to legally trick consumers mind, it is still very wrong to advertise or state things, especially publicly, that simply isn’t true. “Help”(Lutz 128), is one of the “weasel words” that is use by advertisers to tricks the minds of the consumers that it will somehow stop, cure, or eliminate something. When in fact, helping only means that it will assist, or aid something, without the specification on how much it will help.
When creating an advertisement, it is better to put in factual information rather than creating a persuasive advertising with false claim. Informative advertisement could help companies sell their products witho...
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...cts works differently in different situations, so I can’t really expect too much of a product, but I do expect it to help in one way or another.
Overall, in todays world, we can see advertisement everywhere. Some of them might be truthful and some might not. In the end, it is up to us if we want to believe what we see in the media or to ignore it. I’ve been taught, when I was small, not to believe everything in the media, and to think for myself, to never let anyone negatively influence my decisions in life. Although, it is harder to do that now, as there are ways that the media can trick our mind with their choice of words or their methods of advertising. It is very important that we do our research before falling onto these advertisement and becoming a victim of false advertising.
Works Cited
"With These Words, I Can Sell You Anything” by William Lutz
While government intervention is restricting the use of misleading language and informing consumers with actual dietary information, persuasive language techniques are still being used by businesses to influence and mislead consumers into believing a false perception of the product. Advertisements often carry these misleading health and nutrition claims to entice vulnerable viewers who usually can’t make informed decisions about what they buy. This is an increasingly concerning factor in the growing national epidemic of obesity.
The Onion’s mock press release markets a product called MagnaSoles. By formulating a mock advertisement a situation is created where The Onion can criticize modern day advertising. Furthermore, they can go as far as to highlight the lucrative statements that are made by advertisements that seduce consumers to believe in the “science” behind their product and make a purchase. The Onion uses a satirical and humorous tone compiled with made up scientific diction to highlight the manner in which consumers believe anything that is told to them and how powerful companies have become through their words whether true or false.
Advertisements are one of many things that Americans cannot get away from. Every American sees an average of 3,000 advertisements a day; whether it’s on the television, radio, while surfing the internet, or while driving around town. Advertisements try to get consumers to buy their products by getting their attention. Most advertisements don’t have anything to do with the product itself. Every company has a different way of getting the public’s attention, but every advertisement has the same goal - to sell the product. Every advertisement tries to appeal to the audience by using ethos, pathos, and logos, while also focusing on who their audience is and the purpose of the ad. An example of this is a Charmin commercial where there is a bear who gets excited when he gets to use the toilet paper because it is so soft.
Postman states, advertisements were created to “appeal to understanding, and not to passion” (60). It is also stated that producers would make the assumption “that potential buyers were illiterate, rational, and analytical.”(58) Though Neil Postman makes it apparent that advertisers are not always truthful about what they say. Advertisers also tried to appeal to the masses by coming up with catchy slogans to lure people in.
Lutz appears to be the more credible source due to his field of work, but his argument tells consumers to dissect every word used in an ad claim, because the ad may be using a form of manipulation. Advertisers main goal is to sell a product by any means necessary, but the verbal language used isn’t placing a magician like spell on anyone forcing them to buy a product simply with the use of weasel words. Realistically speaking consumers won’t always have the time to critically analyze every item they purchase. O’Neill’s argument is stronger than Lutz because consumers ultimately create and shape the world of advertising, and at the scale certain products are being advertised. Advertising is a form of persuasion not manipulation, unless individuals are completely mindless and cannot form a single thought for themselves.
Every year Americans are bombarded with thousands of ads for products that companies want consumers to buy, whether it is from the internet, television, radio, or print Americans see advertisements wherever they go. Thus, advertising companies have been using different advertising tactics to lure people into buying their products since, according to American Consumerism and the Global Environment, America became a consumer-based economy and society (“American Consumer Society”). Many of the tactics used by advertisers are considered deceiving and unfair. They use different techniques to attract our attention and get consumers to purchase their product. According to a handout provided by William Myers, there are two types of techniques used in ads: rhetorical and graphic (n.p.). Rhetorical techniques used in ads are the way that the advertisers can manipulate words to attract and convince consumers to buy their product. The rhetorical techniques that are used in ads are known as weasel words which, according to William Lutz, “Advertisers use weasel words to appear to be making a claim for a product when in fact they are making no claim at all” (309). Lutz is an English professor for Rutgers University who specializes in doublespeak and more specifically weasel words (304). While the rhetoric advertisers employ may make it seem like they want the consumer to get the best product, according to Stuart Hirschberg, “the underlying intent of all advertising is to persuade specific audiences” (227). Hirschberg is also an English professor at Rutgers University (“Profile: Stuart Hirschberg”). Graphic techniques used in ads are the ways the advertisers present the product to you and the image you see in the ad. In print ads, advertisers re...
Advertising has became a race, a race of passing information to customers in order to change their buying decisions. Because of that, it is difficult to keep the content of an advertisement true to the fact. Facts or benefits of a product are often exaggerated in modern advertisements. Brands create these new images of the product to expand the role of their actual service.
We see advertisements all around us. They are on television, in magazines, on the Internet, and plastered up on large billboards everywhere. Ads are nothing new. Many individuals have noticed them all of their lives and have just come to accept them. Advertisers use many subliminal techniques to get the advertisements to work on consumers. Many people don’t realize how effective ads really are. One example is an advertisement for High Definition Television from Samsung. It appears in an issue of Entertainment Weekly, a very popular magazine concerning movies, music, books, and other various media. The magazine would appeal to almost anyone, from a fifteen-year-old movie addict to a sixty-five-year-old soap opera lover. Therefore the ad for the Samsung television will interest a wide array of people. This ad contains many attracting features and uses its words cunningly in order to make its product sound much more exciting and much better than any television would ever be.
Advertisement has become fundamental in today’s economy. It is a medium that companies utilize to promote their services. It has become a big business. Many companies spend millions upon millions in their efforts to promote their products and services. The market is highly competitive and companies are constantly making use of the techniques used to communicate with consumers. These techniques can be seen almost everywhere. Adverts appear on television, magazines, billboards and are even heard on radio stations. There are countless means that advertisers use to lure the customer(s) in the hope that they will be loyal to the brand. Some of these techniques have been quite controversial. Subliminal advertisement or messaging is a prime example. Their subtle manipulations have instilled some fear and uneasiness on many consumers. These manipulations are deceptive, behavior altering and cause paranoia. Due to these negative aspects of subliminal messaging, it should not be an acceptable form of advertisement.
It is an unlawful act made by various parties of a specific good or service to inaccurately advertise their product, through false or misleading statements. (http://www.nka.com/practice-areas/consumer-rights/false-advertising-deceptive-marketing/) Advertisers should strongly evade advertisements that have the ability to deceive, regardless the fact that nobody may be deceived and the very first step is to recognizes those practices.
Nowadays, advertisements are everywhere embedded in our daily life. They are powerful resources that inform people the latest news about a particular product or brand in many different ways. Most of the people are being able to get more information and detail of a product from media, radio stations, newspapers and internet. Even though advertising is a big informative source, it also can be considered as a marketing tool to control the mind and desires of the consumers to manipulate and persuade them to buy things they do not need.
In today’s difficult economy who can afford to spend their hard-earned money carelessly? Americans want good quality and low prices, and businesses that advertise their product make saving money possible. Advertising was created for one reason, so businesses could make known their product (Black, Hashimzade, and Myles). Some consumers may argue that advertising is not informative, but that it is manipulative because some advertisements make false claims. Fortunately, there are regulations and consumer rights that promote truth in advertising. Consumers must embrace their rights to keep advertising the way it is meant to be. Advertising is meant to be informative and not manipulative, and consumers play a great role in promoting truth in advertising.
Advertising is an information source to inform people about the products and prices of the company, which can help them to make informed choices. More recently, a huge amount of money has been spent on advertising throughout the world. Different types of advertisement such as television, radio, magazine, newspaper, the internet, billboards and posters can influence consumer’s behavior positively or negatively as there are different arguments and opinions. This essay will focus on the purpose of the advertisement for the company, the positive and negative effects of the advertisement on consumer behavior. According to Shimp (2007), there are five important factors which determine the purpose of an advertisement in terms of marketers’ communication with consumers.
Advertising has been an essential source for aiding in global consumption. Individuals in society work to be able to spend their money, and advertisement play a big role in where money is being spent. Ads are very diverse and often consist of an array of fields in which consumers are targeted. Ranging from food, health, clothing, sports, image, lifestyle, etc. Ads provide important means of influence on our society. Ads often play the role of persuade people to come buy products from a specific distributor. On average an individual is exposed to 3000 plus more ads daily, via TV, Internet, print, billboards, etc. In the past decade though ads have drastically changed due to the ever-growing digital era we are living in. Digital technology has assisted in the industry making changes to accommodate our tech-savvy society. Changes in the advertising industry have occurred due to the adoption of the Internet, social media, television, and mobile technology.
Advertising has been defined as the most powerful, persuasive, and manipulative tool that firms have to control consumers all over the world. It is a form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume more of a particular brand of product or service. Its impacts created on the society throughout the years has been amazing, especially in this technology age. Influencing people’s habits, creating false needs, distorting the values and priorities of our society with sexism and feminism, advertising has become a poison snake ready to hunt his prey. However, on the other hand, advertising has had a positive effect as a help of the economy and society.