As in “but- wouldn’t that…” Here’s one example: Sites that sell you gold against “the coming economic collapse”. But they’re not taking their own advice, since they’re willing to trade you gold for dollars.
That’s your bullshit detector going off.
There’s a particularly good one of these down in the “fake news” section of “selected stories from around the web” (i.e. ads) on a lot of news sites. It tells you in the clickbait headline that you need to buy gold because of the collapse that Warren Buffet says will happen in 2017!
I’ve been seeing that headline (with the year increasing by one every year) since at least 2009.
My nephew the financial guru advises against buying gold in the event of an economic collapse. He says buying a gun would be smarter. For obvious reasons.
After the financial collapse due to the housing bubble back in 2008 or so, there were a number of TV ads for financial companies with a spiel like “in these turbulent times you need an experienced financial expert to help you with your finances.”
Umm, aren’t you the same financial experts who had no clue that there was a housing bubble that would destroy the economy? Why should I believe you now?
I’ve been using that as a barometer for decades: Whenever I see a lot of “we buy gold jewelry” ads on TV, I buy. When I see the Franklin Mint selling “genuine gold-clad” coins, I sell.
There is a similar barometer to predict America’s military meddling. If recruitment ads on TV feature a lot of noise and flares and smoke and helicopters and people yelling, you can expect the US to go on another military witch hunt. When recruiting ads are about career and educational opportunities and family life in the military, expect peaceful times ahead.
Timeshares.
Timeshares will save you so much money, they say. If you go on X amount of vacations per year, think about how you’re losing by using conventional lodging! If you buy a timeshare, sure you pay a lot upfront but think of the savings ahead! And look, we’ll even sweeten the deal by throwing in all these extra discounts. But only if you act NOW. Plus you get a free trip too just for watching this presentation.
Look, dude, with all this glitz and glamour, it’s obvious this company has major overhead expenses. Support for this overhead must come from your customers, which means somebody somewhere is losing a lot of money. That person ain’t gonna be me.
Both a phone company and a cable company that I have not used in a decade, still sent me promotional material ten times a year. I mean, I left them cause they sucked and cost too much. How is sending me glossy promo deals in envelopes, so often, for so long, with no sign of letting up, supposed to convince me you surely have, “The lowest rates!”? That seems so unlikely when I see you spend your resources in this fashion.
Buy a gun made of solid gold! Win-win!
I heard of a Man with a Golden Gun once. He got murdered by some British dude. They never caught the guy, though, since he keeps changing his face.
There’s a passage in a Brian Jacques novel that has stuck with me for over a decade because it is illogical in a self-referencing, circular way. I can’t recall the exact words, so I must quote the best I can:
“(Character) sat down in confusion. He could not decide which puzzled him more, Tsarmina’s departure, or the arrival of a catapult-hurled boulder which ended (Character)'s confusion forever.”***
I’m always suspicious of those “Easy Wealth Creation”-type seminars. If making squiilions using One Easy Trick™ was so lucrative, why on Earth would you go around telling all and sundry said trick? That’s going to disrupt your ability to swim in your money bin, surely - not to mention creating increased competition etc?
(And yes, I realise the “trick” is actually to have a gig running wealth creation seminars. 
)
Penis enlarging ads. :dubious: