Deceptive Advertising

DECEPTIVE ADVERTISING

As a consumer in a world of constant advertising messages being flashed before my eyes, I am always wary of the truth of those messages that I see. It is terrible when consumers see an advertisement, whether it is in a magazine, television or anywhere else, and from that information, decide to make a purchase. What happens, is just that they end up finding out either they are not getting what they planned or have already paid more than they should have. Deceptive advertisements have been a problem since the beginning of media, and consumers like you and me need to keep an eye out for them constantly. However, with so many advertisements that buyers are exposed to each and every day, it’s not practical to worry and question the truth of everything we are being told. It would take all day, and it is simply inconvenient; we’d be questioning nearly everything about our lives. Advertisers must follow strict guidelines to stay clear of lawsuits resulting from deceptive advertisements. Being that in less than a year I will be purchasing my first very own car, I chose to focus on automobile advertisements and how consumers have been deceived through their ads.

In so many words, deceptive advertising can also be described as “advertising which is misleading in a material aspect.” This includes all the false and misleading advertisements that would appear in print, on TV, radio, billboards, mailers, etc. Ads are pretty much everywhere we look throughout the course of a day. One could also go as far as saying ads are in less traditional forms like in a subway, on the wall of a building, in pictures, display materials, on labels, newsletters, and catalogs, just to name a few more. As any consumer can see, yet might not wish to believe, advertisers have many means by which they can trick us ‘commonfolk’ into buying the products they want us to buy, whether or not we had wanted or needed it to begin with.

Often times when it comes to advertising, to find out if it is really working, companies will perform tests or surveys to see what they might need to change. They base the test on answers and reactions from consumers, and find out their thoughts on the ad. The people performing the tests probably look at consumers as uneducated people who are gullible, impressionable, and perhaps even stupid; we may simply look at ourselves as ordinary people who trust in the products we choose to buy. No one wants to look at themselves as a pawn in a company’s silly little “game,” therefore no matter what we hear about advertising, will not let ourselves think we are being fooled. We may not have been tricked, but advertisers know exactly what to say and do to get us to buy what they want us to buy.

Many times to get us where they want us, advertisers will tell the truth about their product, however leave bits and pieces out that may make us hesitate to purchase their product. The things less appealing about a product would cause us to steer clear of it and go to one of their competitor’s products. This information left out could possibly be the most important for the consumer.

The arrangement and layout of an advertisement is another point to be considered when trying to see if an ad is deceptive. If it has a lot of visuals to it, the important details of the product just might be overlooked. The pictures all look so nice, we want our purchase to look like that too. (Even though half the time you open the box, the product is nothing like it looked on the cover of the package.)

Also, sometimes an ad might lean the hardest towards the positive selling features and completely downplays the negative messages about a product. When this is done, the consumer’s attention is drawn towards the positives