I dunno how it rates on the sketchy scale, but damn, if that is all it takes to manipulate people to buy your product by comparing its color to chocolate, I wonder what they could do with crap?
Car salesman: “There’s never been a better time to buy a new vehicle.” As if, he’ll tell you, “this really isn’t a good time to buy a new vehicle.”
Put me in the “virtually all marketing is bs” camp.
I think the only way you can be underwhelmed (or just “whelmed,” as a writer pal of mine was wont to say) by these examples is to have retreated to such a cynical position that you “know” all marketing is BS and expect nothing else.
The problem with that position, especially when it’s more a static one than a more continuallly considered one, is that it plays straight into the hands of nearly all modern marketing efforts. Most marketing does *not *expect you to believe what it claims - they know that you know that they know that you know that it’s largely bombast, baloney and BS. And it’s crafted to make use of exactly that wary misunderstanding… and deliver its message even though the recipient thinks all his shields are at maximum deflection.
So yes, these examples and a million more should shock and annoy you, on a different level from the one you routinely use to process and respond to them. (That’d be the forelobes, Alex.) Reread these stinking streams of bullshit, and ask yourself: why do we put up with being blatantly lied to, from all directions, nearly every waking moment? When did it become normal to swim in a sea of festering bullshit and be all hipster and cool and aware and smartt to mutually pretend it’s of no consequence?
ISP’s whether wifi, cable, and also cell phone providers get you to buy X brand or service, do so “and you can see speeds up to____”(fill in the blank).
The fact that it is capable of doing it, and can, doesn’t mean that it will, generally by a long shot, but they have been fairly successful in getting away with it. I think the FCC is trying to crack down on this fraudulent kind of advertising, but it seems to not matter much.
I don’t put up with it.
HR guy interviewing older man for a job:
Q: What is your biggest weakness as an employee?
A: I’m too honest.
Q: I don’t think that is really a weakness in an employee, try again.
A: I really don’t give a shit what you or anyone else thinks.
I’ll take your word for it.
With respect to “honesty,” I’ll just say that I’ve interviewed a lot of people who are firmly convinced they are resolute self-directed consumers who are uninfluenced by marketing, and it rarely takes more than about fifteen minutes to prove otherwise. (This can’t be done other than in-person and on-site; it becomes too easy to evade questions and give false answers, whether they are lies or misbelief.)
The bottom line is this: marketing does not work the way most people think or to ends most people comprehend. It uses tools most people are unaware of and would disbelieve if they were told. It stopped being driven by Don Draper hunches decades ago, and relies on deeply data-driven, science-based techniques. The average (intelligent, educated, informed) person’s notion of “marketing” bears the same correspondence to reality that “Gilligan’s Island” bears to the Donner Party.
But I’ll take your word for it anyway. 
Are industrial grade diamonds inferior in some physical way to ones used in jewelry besides color? If not, why does this matter? You make it sound like brown diamonds are inherently trash grade, and so putting them in jewelry is deceptive.
But if they’re only graded as industrial because they’re difficult to sell as gems, and if that in turn is only because they’re underappreciated, then there’s nothing very wrong with trying to persuade people to appreciate them.
I have a friend who runs hazlenuts through a Mr Peanut buttermaker, adds cocoa powder and a smidgeon of honey and it is worlds better than nutella.
The whole point of diamonds is that they are colorless.
When I first saw “chocolate” diamonds, my reaction was, “No-one will fall for this flagrant up-marketing of third rate stones”, but they are kind of pretty. I like them. I’d wear them if I would ever wear diamonds.
There isn’t a type size large enough to say, “Duh!” properly.
Most nut butters are wonderful. Those made from rather expensive nuts are often wonderful-er. But the key there is “made from nuts” and not “you’re nuts to think this is in any way a nut butter…”
I don’t say I’m never taken in. I’m human. Kinda. But marketing is about hiding the bad and making it seem trivial in decision making.
I disagree. As far as I can tell, this “diamonds need to be colorless” thing has not only been violated before, it’s purely aesthetic. There’s absolutely nothing wrong, IMO, with trying to change aesthetics through marketing. I mean, it’s marketing that created those aesthetics to begin with, so why not?
Grass-fed beef.
Aside from, maybe kobe beef, ALL beef is grass-fed. Do you really think there is some food cheaper than grass?
“Free Range Chicken” - it means the cages open for x minutes per day and there is a plausible route by which a chicken could exit the building.
They don’t.
“Interest Free for 6 Months!” (yes, Paypal/ebay, I’m looking at you and your “Bill Me Later” credit card. The APR on this thing is 22% - and I’m sure they compound it. If you are foolish enough to actually let it sit there and accumulate fees, there is now a very expensive bomb over your head - if you are EVER late with a payment - anytime during that payoff (what, you added another bill to the card?) you get hit with that fee.
Do we really need to discuss car ads?
Sure there is - anything that yields more food value per unit land area than pasture grass - for example silage made from whole maize plants (OK - still technically ‘grass’ - but not grazed in a pasture).
Actually there is a big difference between grain fed and grass fed cows in terms of economics and health. PBS did a story on this a while back ago, so my memory may get a few things wrong, but I’d highly recommend watching the show that they ran on our meats. I think it was on Frontline or Nova.
Grain fed cows are generally fed corn, which seriously disrupts their GI tract, and have to be slowly introduced to it just to get them to eat it, and I think also have to be given antibiotics when going this route. Grain fed cows fatten up a lot quicker, and can go to the slaughter house in less than two years, compared to about four or five for grass fed. The meat for consumers from grain fed cows is loaded with a lot more saturated fats, and I think less than omega 3 fats which is supposed to be a better fat for you. There were other things that concerned me too, but forget now what they were.
If so, that certainly would be misleading to me, if only left out for just a few minutes so that they could claim “Free Range Chicken”.
They try to hit me up on this every time I buy something, but always avoided it and certainly will continue to do so.
The documentation fee is something that the car salesman tries to slip in between other stuff, after the purchase price, and TT&L (tax, title and license). Sales tax being the most, but title and license isn’t much, probably less than $100.
The documentation fee is generally higher now than the title and license put together, depending on which state you live in. Some states put a cap on it, while in many others there is no cap like in my state of TX. Don’t be surprised if it is $150, $250 or even $500 or more. It’s not a tax in any state that I’m aware of, although at first they will try to give the impression that this is just something they have to collect on, and it’s not much they can do about it. But it’s just administrative fee the dealers try to collect on.
So to get out of it, since you just paid out all of this money for a new car, all you generally have to do is tell them, “look, I know this isn’t a tax, and my state doesn’t collect on it. Another dealer said if I bought from them, they would waive the documentation fee, are you going to do the same or not?" They will.
I would swear that at some point in time and space I saw “Real Imitation” cheese or some such.
Not so much sketchy as WTF does that mean?
The Hope diamond is deep blue.