# Truth in advertising.  Or not.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-in-advertising-or-not/342440>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 1, 2006, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-in-advertising-or-not/342440 "2006-02-01T00:21:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-in-advertising-or-not/342440/21 "2006-02-01T19:02:32Z")

</div>

> [@Little Nemo](#):
>
> Getting back to the OP (remember the OP people?) I’d nominate Blockbuster for the least honest ads in recent memory. I know there are people here who refuse to admit the obvious, but if they charge you a fee and you only pay it if you’re late, then it’s a late fee.

They pulled those ads for that very reason.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-in-advertising-or-not/342440/22 "2006-02-01T19:17:51Z")

</div>

> [@Biggirl](#):
>
> Yes. This is cheese shaved off of a big block of cheese. Not preternaturally colored, chemically engineered dust.

To be fair, most American cheeses are chemically engineered and artificially colored. As I understand, cheese is no longer made “naturally” with rennin, but rather with chemicals designed to replace it.

Cheese is naturally an off-white color, but manufacturers have found that Americans seem to prefer orange or bright yellow cheeses. In the “olden days” they used to use carrots to add the coloring. (Remember Ma making cheese in the\* Little House on the Prairie\* books?)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-in-advertising-or-not/342440/23 "2006-02-01T23:31:32Z")

</div>

The brilliant Stan Freberg liked to use the principle he expressed as “more honesty than the client had in mind” combined with a sense of humor and a sense that the commercial didn’t take itself too seriously. People were disarmed by the honesty and amused, and those ad campaigns were very successful.

From his print ad for Sunsweet Pitted Prunes:

> [@](#):
>
> Well what do you do with a prune pit once it’s in your mouth? Disgusting. There’s no way you can get rid of a prune pit, gracefully. … Let’s lay our prunes on the table; until now, most people didn’t like prunes very much. As a matter of fact there were people who wouldn’t touch one with a twenty-foot pole. Apparently they didn’t find anything all that appealing about a piece of wrinkled fruit that could knock out a $75.00 inlay. But that’s all behind us now. Shake hands with the Pitted Prune; sweet, moist, although still rather badly wrinkled. One thing at a time, please. Today, the pits . . . tomorrow the wrinkles. SUNSWEET MARCHES ON!!!

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-in-advertising-or-not/342440.md?page=1)