5 Popular Types of Misleading Advertising

With all of the misleading political ads running, it’s easy to see that advertising is a tricky game to play. Although politicians don’t have to tell the truth in their ads due to the ads being covered under “political speech” of the First Amendment, companies don’t have that luxury. People have come to accept and resent that many ads are flat-out false, and people get their cues from certain words in the ad.

Jeffrey Schrank, an advertising teacher, has made a list that includes the top techniques advertisers use to make a misleading claim for their products or services. Here are five of the misleading techniques.

1. The Weasel Claim – A weasel word is one that just about contradicts everything that is said after it. These are words that look impressive at first, but you realize after reading the entire claim that the words don’t mean anything.

Example: “Leaves dishes virtually spotless.” You’re supposed to ignore the virtually, which means that the dishes will not, in fact, be spotless in the least. Many ads use words like “fights,” which does not mean “cures” or “gets rid of,” and “helps” is the mother of these words. “Helps fight dandruff” means it doesn’t get rid of dandruff, but the product is on your side. Whew!

2. The Unfinished Claim – This one’s the claim that says something is better or faster than something else, but it doesn’t tell you what that something else is.

Example: “Scott makes it better for you.” Better than what? Better than nothing? Gee, thanks. “Ford LTD – 700% quieter.” The FTC called Ford out on this one, asking what it was 700% quieter than. Ford’s answer? The inside of the LTD is 700% quieter than the outside. Uh, okay.

3. The Obvious Claim – This is the claim that is true of any brand in a certain product category. I like to call it the “duh” claim.

Example: “Great Lash greatly increases the diameter of every lash.” Oh, and other mascaras diminish the look of lashes? Or, how about “Rheingold, the natural beer.” Natural because it’s made from grains and water…just like any other kind of beer.

4. The So What Claim – This type of claim gives you some kind of impressive fact that really has no bearing on why you should buy the product.

Example: “Geritol has more than twice the iron of ordinary supplements.” So what? Who needs twice the iron? If you needed all that iron then all the supplements would have it. And too much iron can actually be harmful.

5. The Scientific Claim – This ad uses some kind of science or an impressive number to deliver an impressive stat. Oftentimes, the research cited was sponsored by the company who is selling the product.

Example: “Easy-Off has 33% more cleaning power than another popular brand.” The percentage makes it sound scientific, but who knows what “another popular brand” refers to. Popularity is a matter of opinion.

I’m sure when you read the examples you knew right away that the claim was false. And what you knew instinctively is what millions of consumers also know. So don’t even try to fool them. Only use real numbers that you can back up, and don’t waste your money making outlandish claims that you can’t prove. That’s just smart advertising.