Whistleblowers Book of 1001 Secrets: Consumer News You Can Use (Second Edition)

Advertising

ADVERTISING AND MARKETING Ad-nauseam

Advertising has ascended to a position in American culture and society as the most pervasive and powerful influence. Who knows, before long everything in America may have a sponsor's logo attached to it, even the flag of the United States!

No one really seems to care anymore because consumers have become so conditioned to it all that hardly anyone even notices anymore! Most every object and environment these days carries advertising or some form of it and most every moment of time is calibrated by advertising now and will be even more so in the future!

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: ADCULT USA: THE TRIUMPH OF ADVERTISING IN AMERICAN CULTURE BY J. TWITCHELL

Advertised Brand Wars

Consumers often buy the highly promoted, brand name product on sale. Other brands may be just as good and even cheaper but consumers may not find them easily because the most heavily advertised brands buy and thus dominate most retailers' high traffic shelf space and display areas!

If other brands cost less but cannot afford high traffic shelf space, many consmers may tend to assume the heavily promoted brand is the better deal. Smaller competitors may end up getting driven further and further out of the competition!

Critics charge that shelf space may be going to the highest bidder instead of exclusively only going to the brands consumers want more of! Every retailer, from bookstores to grocery stores, has the opportunity to charge product sellers a fee for shelf space.

Consequently, entrepreneurs with new, better, less costly, innovative products may get shut out of available shelf space due to not being able to afford expensive shelf space fees, called slotting fees. Guess who really ends up paying these fees? Consumers, of course, by way of higher and higher product prices!

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: ABC-TV 20/20 11/10/95

Advertised No Payments Til Next Year

This advertised sales gimmick may actually mean that the specific details of this particular offer may be so unattractive that the merchant expects that customers will cave-in to the salesperson's switch pitch switching potential customers away from the advertised offer and into the deal or sale the merchant REALLY wants to sell most!

These type advertised offers are most often used to try and create more store traffic to get potential unsuspecting customers in the door who in turn would get grossly overcharged for the merchandise if they opt for the no payments 'til next year deal versus if they were to buy the same or similar merchandise today!

If this is not the case the no payments 'til next year sales gimmick may actually have so many strings attached or undesirable conditions attached to the advertised offer to make it not so desirable to the potential customer so, again, the salesperson will have an easier time to switch the customer into the deal or merchandise the salesperson needs to sell most!

Advertised Product Undersizing

Undersizing is when a product package and price stay about the same but the content size or weight DECREASES without consumers really realizing it. Of course, this can result in windfall profits for the product manufacturer.

Advertised Puffery

Puffery is the gross exaggeration about the abilities of a product that consumers should neither take seriously nor believe according to advertisers! For example, this is when a product package or signage promotes one thing yet the small, fine print elsewhere tells the real story like true ingredients or conditions the consumer has to understand upon purchase of the product.

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: CONSUMER REPORTS MAGAZINE AUGUST 1995

Advertised Test Results To Prove Claims

Test results may be more rhetorical and persuasive than accurate! For example, a product advertised as healthy, due to some magical test results, may be questionable because there is no real legal definition of the term healthy used in advertisements, consequently most any product may possibly be found to be healthy by Federal Trade Commission (FTC) standards!

Study results, clinical test results even taste test results may be used to support certain claims in ads yet may skirt real science altogether! Despite heavy FTC rules and regulations, any test results may lead to unsubstantiated exaggeration by advertisers who may rarely ever get caught exaggerating or even policed for that matter!

An ad may claim a product has been extensively tested using sound, scientific methods and procedures while upholding only the highest standards, yet later, these same claims may be proven to be deceptive. However, possibly not before the advertiser has raked in huges profits, then and only then will the advertiser be asked by the FTC or voluntarily change the ad's copy and deceptive claims. Oftentimes it takes years for the FTC to catch up to advertisers using misleading claims especially when consumer health and safety issues are not possibly being compromised by the advertiser!

For example, a high fiber, low fat cereal may claim to possibly contribute to reducing the risk of some cancer and or heart disease, but what is NOT revealed is it also may possibly NOT reduce any risks of

cancer and/or heart disease! Consequently, you could make this same claim about many food substances that are known NOT to possibly contribute to cancer and/or heart disease!

As long as the advertiser does not link any of an ad's claims to a scientific study or test results the advertiser may NOT have to prove an ad's claims to anyone by FTC standards!

For example, if one paper towel claims to absorb more than others it may simply be bigger in size so, of course, it will likely absorb more! Or if 4 out of 5 doctors, dentists or any professionals, that actually work for and get paid by an advertiser, say they recommend a certain product but only 5 doctors were even surveyed then it is a fair claim by FTC standards to claim that 4 out of 5 doctors recommend this product! If these same professionals endorse an advertiser's test result claims then an advertisement can convincingly state that 4 out of 5 professionals recommend a certain product. Unfortunately, in good science no statistically valid scientific conclusion can ever be drawn from a small survey of 5 professionals especially when the ad insinuates that 4 out of 5 professionals EVERYWHERE are made out to seem to be recommending a certain product by the way the advertisement's copy is written!

Blind taste testing is not much better. To claim that more people prefer a certain brand only takes a small fraction over 50% to be able to get away with claiming that MORE people prefer some brand over some other. Also, taste testing may be as accurate as coin flipping! Many folks find out they do not know their taste buds as well as they think they do! Advertisement Dramatized Testimonials

Some advertisements for products and services contain testimonials from so-called satisfied customers and/or users of the product. However, the ads may carry some hard- to-read, hard-to-find, hardly even noticeable, small, fine print somewhere on the ad stating dramatization or testimonials dramatized.

Nationally advertised, over-the-counter or doctor prescribed products and services have been known to re-create so-called satisfied customer testimonials by hiring professional paid actors to re-enact the satisfied customers! This is legal just so long as you put or hide somewhere in the ad that the paid actor is actually a dramatization, meaning re- creation, of the so-called real life satisfied customer testimonial. The problem is no one ever really knows if the satisfied customer testimonial is legitimate, for-real or even exists at all. The product advertisers essentially police themselves when it comes to what is said and shown in their advertisements.

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: CONSUMER REPORTS MAGAZINE AUGUST 1998

Advertising Agencies & Audience Testimonials

Some advertising agencies may be notorious double-billers and thus have a license to steal. An agency may negotiate a lower ad cost for his client advertiser from certain media, like radio and TV stations, but the ad agency may not pass the savings on to their client advertisers who pay the advertising bills in the first place, and instead the ad agency unethically, but not illegally, may pocket the windfall profits he overcharges the client advertisers!

For example, the ad agency may negotiate a $1000 cost per TV or radio spot for his client advertiser but instead may bill the client advertiser $2000 for the exact same spot which is what the TV or radio station may typically charge for the exact same spot on its published advertising rate card! The ad agency keeps the $1000 he overcharges his client advertiser plus keeps the 15%, or $150, on every $1000 worth of radio and/or TV spots he sells his client advertiser which is the typical commission earned on the spots he sells his client advertisers when recommending which radio and TV stations to buy commercial airtime on! This can all add up to windfall profits for the ad agency since agencies may buy hundreds of spots at a time for their client advertisers and many agencies have 20 to 40 client advertisers or more!

Client advertisers using ad agencies should always 'question ad agency generated invoices for commercial media advertising space in newspapers or radio and TV commercial airtime. Always demand to see the media generated invoices that are routinely sent out by the specific media being bought for client advertisers. These media generated invoices are the ONLY invoices that client advertisers can trust!

Is it no wonder why advertising is one of the most profitable industries with the least amount of overhead expense ranking right up there with the insurance industry in being able to potentially rake in huge profits? Also, ad agencies may even end up wasting 1/2 of their client advertisers' advertising budgets but no one, including the client advertiser, can ever really figure out which half of their ad budget is being wasted!

Advertising salespeople working for radio and TV stations throw around their station audience ratings and statistics like they are gospel. The ratings are used to extract as much advertising money as possible from client advertisers. However, these same radio and TV station sales managers turn right around and may complain about how the audience ratings' sampling procedures are unfair and based on biased statistical collection procedures.

Radio and TV ratings may attempt to measure audience size and demographic make-up, but may bear no relationship to actually who will see, hear or respond to the ads which is all the client advertisers really care about anyway!

By the time the radio and TV station audience ratings gets published of who is listening to or watching which broadcast stations or cable TV networks, like many statistics used by many industries, these statistics, once published, may already be outdated, invalid, obsolete and unreliable! Consequently, buying radio and TV advertising airtime based solely on so-called audience ratings is like walking backwards into the future when planning an advertising budget and campaign. Forecasting the public's fickle entertainment habits is like relying on the fickle finger of fate.

To produce, perform and sell advertising print space and/or radio and TV spots to client advertisers day in and day out 365 days a year requires one to be able to lie while smiling even though most advertising salespeople may not like to admit it.

Advertising Agencies & Audience Ratings

Satisfied customers may not create as much profit potential as unsatisfied ones in the advertising jungle! Why? Advertisements reinforce insecurity in consumers to make us feel like we are never free of self-consciousness, dissatisfaction, insecurity, desperation and unending absorption and needs to consume, consume, consume! Moreover, if we allow ourselves and our children to be influenced by advertising we are may never be free from the drive to seek an unattainable perfect appearance or sex appeal.

This vanity may restrict freedom of the mind as we may become slaves to consumerism, which is just what advertisers wish for, instead of consumers becoming free from consumerism!

We are encouraged to measure men and women against these unattainable ideals. Ads suggest we can attain these ideals, as well as satisfaction, if only we buy, buy, buy! Remember, discontent feeds the fires of our commercial consumer culture.

If you buy into advertising with all its psychological mind games it covertly and overtly plays on consumers then there can rarely be consumer satisfaction which is why the marketplace is ever- changing and disposable, consequently keeping the marketplace forever profitable!

Being born and raised in a capitalist, consumer culture intense self-scrutiny becomes automatic as does feelings of low self-esteem, lost self-regard and limited personal horizons, not to mention the

need for self-imposed starvation.

Too many of us unceasingly compare our own unimproved reality to the magazine models' airbrushed perfection who then offer to sell us perfection for a price through surgery, cosmetics, weight loss plans and so forth.

This process may be a deliberate marketing scheme perpetuated on potentially the most emotionally vulnerable segment of the public....women and young girls! Many ads are seemingly created to help make sure all men and women remain self-conscious, dissatisfied and discontented, with women being viewed by advertisers as the weakest, most vulnerable link in the advertising food chain.

Even the pervasive awareness of cellulite was said to be put forth and promoted unceasingly by the women's magazine industry in the early 1970's to possibly add insecurity to women's lives which will require an endless line of beauty and exercise products, treatments and services that women will be easily persuaded to buy in order to help fix themselves! Yet this may just be another example of how image and insecurity may possibly be created.

However, REAL satisfaction is to be liberated from the desire to desire. Why desire to be bought and sold?

If we simply laugh at the advertisements that come before us helps insure that the advertiser's persuasive gimmickry CANNOT work its potentially costly magic. Consequently, consumers may be less likely to buy into advertisers' propositions of persuasion that constantly bombard us.

Ads potentially create idols, possibly demonic by nature, as well as create the myth of perfection. Women in particular may tend to become obsessed more easily compared to men concerning their appearance....some say even possessed!

Why are maybe 9 out of 10 women dissatisfied with some part of their anatomy? The women's magazine industry, propped up by the beauty and cosmetics industry, may be the responsible beasts with all their persuasive advertising and magazine articles being the ammunition used to rule women's minds and emotions!

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: ADBUSTERS MAGAZINE SPRING 1996

Advertising Creates Unattainable Ideals

It is crooked as a dog's hind leg! Ad logic is call pecuniary logic meaning the advertisement's words or copy, headlines and claims are stated as though they are true and/or factual but they are not really meant to be believed!

The goal of advertising is to grab your attention just long enough to try and convince you to spend, consume, try something, accept something, and the bottom line is to extract money from you at some point in time, preferably sooner than later!

Advertising copywriters are especially good at leaving out crucial information which if had been known by you, the consumer, would too often make the advertiser's claims virtually meaningless!

Advertising Logic

You would like to think advertising people are hip, young-minded, rebellious geniuses working at the cutting edge of American culture. However, many of those who make this career choice are not always proud of their chosen career and some of the more thinking individuals in advertising are troubled by the ethical neutrality of the business of advertising. Consumers should be demanding to know why the advertising industry shamelessly promotes endless, meaningless, unnecessary consumptive behavior as well as killer products, all of which too often also happen to be targeted toward children!

Even advertising associations and consumer advocacy magazines have not even held the industry accountable. For a clear conscience, should advertising people only work for advertisers whose products you would gladly have your own children consume? Advertising people should maybe ask themselves, Do I really want to spend the best years of my life urging people to consume questionable products or do I prefer to sell-out for the almighty dollar?

Too many advertising people may justify their job of advertising questionable products and services by claiming that it is the government's role to determine which products and services should or should not be advertised. As long as the products or services are legal, it is the advertising agencies' responsibility to do the best job possible to advertise its clients' products and services.

There is something ethically wrong with this statement but so is the fact that there is some medical researcher somewhere earning maybe $35,000 a year searching for medical cures and new medicines while the so-called creative advertising person conjuring up slogans like, Where's the beef? or It's bubblicious! is sitting pretty somewhere making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year!

Can those working in the advertising business even be ethically responsible and morally benevolent considering all the pressures inherent in a capitalist society and the advertising industry itself? Advertising agencies are pressured to try and keep advertisers advertising no matter what or advertising people may lose their jobs. With all the inherent pressures in the advertising industry, the demands, deadlines, politics and so forth, can there ever really be much room for ethical decisionmaking? So is it any wonder that in public opinion surveys for credibility and ethical behavior that advertising people rank at the bottom of the rankings along with attorneys, used car salespeople, slumlords and child labor sweatshop owner/operators?

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: ADBUSTERS MAGAZINE WINTER 1997

Advertising People And Ethics

You would like to think advertising people are hip, young-minded, rebellious geniuses working at the cutting edge of American culture. However, many of those who make this career choice are not always proud of their chosen career and some of the more thinking individuals in advertising are troubled by the ethical neutrality of the business of advertising. Consumers should be demanding to know why the advertising industry shamelessly promotes endless, meaningless, unnecessary consumptive behavior as well as killer products, all of which too often also happen to be targeted toward children!

Even advertising associations and consumer advocacy magazines have not even held the industry accountable. For a clear conscience, should advertising people only work for advertisers whose products you would gladly have your own children consume? Advertising people should maybe ask themselves, Do I really want to spend the best years of my life urging people to consume questionable products or do I prefer to sell-out for the almighty dollar?

Too many advertising people may justify their job of advertising questionable products and services by claiming that it is the government's role to determine which products and services should or should not be advertised. As long as the products or services are legal, it is the advertising agencies' responsibility to do the best job possible to advertise its clients' products and services.

There is something ethically wrong with this statement but so is the fact that there is some medical researcher somewhere earning maybe $35,000 a year searching for medical cures and new medicines while the so-called creative advertising person conjuring up slogans like, Where's the beef? or It's bubblicious! is sitting pretty somewhere making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year!

Can those working in the advertising business even be ethically responsible and morally benevolent considering all the pressures inherent in a capitalist society and the advertising industry itself? Advertising agencies are pressured to try and keep advertisers advertising no matter what or advertising people may lose their jobs. With all the inherent pressures in the advertising industry, the demands, deadlines, politics and so forth, can there ever really be much room for ethical decisionmaking? So is it any wonder that in public opinion surveys for credibility and ethical behavior that advertising people rank at the bottom of the rankings along with attorneys, used car salespeople, slumlords and child labor sweatshop owner/operators?

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: ADBUSTERS MAGAZINE WINTER 1997

Advertising Symbolism

We live by symbols and even die by symbols as the history of cigarette advertising has revealed to many of us. This is why culture jamming may be such a vital exercise for activists to help ensure that the consuming public becomes aware of the potential consequences of its consumptive buying behaviors. When meaning must be found in marketing images at the expense of rational, unemotional thought a not-so-good product's meaning can be re-created into a deceptively pleasing image by the advertiser's marketers to help ensure that the public stays confused about its true meaning!

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: ADBUSTERS MAGAZINE FALL 1997

Advertising That Deceives

Puffery used in advertising is exaggeration to some of us but just plain lies to the rest of us! If an ad's claims cannot be substantiated or backed up with scientifically proven valid and reliable research results and/or statistics or numbers then an ad's claims may be suspect and everything else in between substantiated claims and unsubstantiated claims is called advertising puffery and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) generally may allow it to go on forever unless they receive numerous complaints from consumers or competitors selling the same or similar products and services.

Legitimizing ad puffery opens the door to subterfuge, positive misstatements, innuendo, subtle half- truths and omissions. The benefits of lying in advertising and the resulting profits derived from being able to get away with using unsubstantiated claims in ads far outweigh any risks of getting in trouble with the FTC.

Because of the large volume of falsehoods or lies that dominate the field of advertising the FTC only seems to be able to focus on the most blatant offenders of unsubstantiated ad claims and lies while most puffery, trickery and deceit too often go unchallenged which is why in America is it always buyer beware!

Instead of publicizing the awards for the year's best ads, why not publicize the year's most misleading ads? However, the media's primary source of income is advertising so never expect them to bite the hand that feeds them!

For example, the TV news networks pick on the tobacco industry concerning consumer health issues even though food critics contend that consuming meat, dairy and processed food products may be more harmful than tobacco use. Is the news media letting the meat and dairy industries get by without a constant barrage of criticism on health issues because tobacco is not allowed to advertise on TV anymore? Remember, the meat, dairy and processed food industries help keep the TV networks in business with their huge TV advertising expenditures!

Additionally, when you see ready in seconds promoted in big letters on a food product package or in an ad it may actually mean the product takes up to 600 to 800 seconds to cook which you may not find out about until you read the cooking instructions on the package label.Some ads even have the audacity to exclaim 200% savings! However, in reality you can never have more than 100% of anything at one time. Math abuse is common in ads to try and create more than there really is. Twisted logic and distortion of numbers are often used by advertisers, who are better known as practitioners of public persuasion.

Pictures of food are allowed to be deceptive just so the food looks good. Hamburgers are often photographed raw with only their edges and outside browned so they look big and fat then the burger is actually branded just to make it look like it just came off the grill.

A cooked turkey may be painted with oil to give it that mouthwatering, just-out-of-the-oven-look. Ice cream may actually be huge clumps of mashed potatoes because it will look richer and creamier than real ice cream and will not melt under the hot lights when taking hours shooting the pictures for the ice cream ad. Pictures of milk in ads may actually be melted ice cream because it looks creamier when photographed.

More and more advertising tricks are being devised to breakthrough a consumer's defensive layers. One trick is to get a well-paid audience and produce what looks like talk, news and entertainment shows and even sitcoms (situation comedies) which function as program length commercials! This tends to blur the line between commercial and non-commercial program content.

American Tobacco Overseas

Since smoking continues to decrease in the U.S., more and more people are lighting up overseas! Why? Maybe it is because of marketing gimmicks which are allowed overseas but would be unheard of or banned in America! Today, most anything goes overseas when it comes to marketing American tobacco!

For example, you can get away with placing American cigarette-makers' logos inside traffic signal lights so that every time the light turns green the logo lights up! You can also use empty cigarette packs to get free passes to events, clubs or attractions. Cigarette advertisements overseas may even promise the taste of freedom that's truly American! Even the U.S. military overseas may be offered under priced cigarettes compared to prices found in America. It also just so happens that some of America's heaviest smokers are in the military! Remember, during World War II the U.S. military was given free cigarettes. Could this have been done to help ensure that soldiers would get hooked, so to speak, so cigarette-makers would enjoy huge profits when soldiers came home and had to start buying American tobacco products.

Just because the U.S. Congress is trying to keep tobacco-related diseases from spreading at home is no reason for tobacco companies to keep these diseases from spreading worldwide!

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: FT. LAUDERDALE SUN SENTINEL NEWSPAPER 4/5/98

As-Seen-On-TV & Not-Sold-In-Stores Advertised Sales Pitches

Unlike days gone by when a TV ad stated the above phrase, it REALLY meant the product is not sold in stores, instead, these days this sales pitch most likely means, Soon to be in stores everywhere! Today, the integrity of the as seen on TV, not sold in stores statement has been diluted because if a product sells well on TV, you will likely eventually see it in retail stores and quite possibly at a reduced price compared to what it costs when responding and purchasing it off the TV. So why immediately respond to the ad you see on TV and pay the sometimes costly shipping and handling charges when quite possibly, soon you may find the product, or something similar, in a store for less?

In addition, if a product advertised exclusively on TV does NOT end up in retail stores, possibly the product may have been a disappointment to consumers who did purchase it off the TV and the product may not be as beneficial as the TV ad portrayed the product to be and not perceived by consumers to be worth the TV advertisements asking price!

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: DIRECT RESPONSE TV MAGAZINE DECEMBER 1996

As Seen On TV Product Hype

A product being sold for $19.95 is usually worth no more than $5-$6 wholesale. However, all the ceaseless superlatives used to describe products being hawked on TV you would think they were worth a lot more.

The secret of why products sell so well on TV may be based in neuroscience! This means a carefully scripted TV commercial or 30 minute infomercial can actually pump up dopamine levels in a consumer's brain basically taking viewers on a psychological roller-coaster ride.

The ride starts with a problem you may not have known you even had which is then dramatized followed by a fantastic, easy solution then a series of even more amazing product benefits, bonuses and giveaways. All this leads to a thrilling unbelievably low price. After this wild psychological ride it takes the viewer's dopamine levels in the brain approximately five minutes to drop back to normal levels. This is why TV commercials and infomercials most often ask the viewer to respond right now or in the next three minutes if the viewer expects to reap all the extras of the advertised offer.

Critics contend that maybe half of all 30 minute infomercial products actually deliver on their promise, maybe 30% of the products advertised actually do what they say they do but may be costly and the rest of the products advertised may be nothing more than overpriced junk!

Beware of all the hype! For example, if a product promises to hold 150 pounds in weight may actually only hold 50 pounds if the product comes in a package of three! Do you understand the logic here?

Products that promise to chop, slice and dice may not always do so. Products that promise to eliminate grease and residue on cookware may be overpriced compared to simple soaking cookware overnight in hot water with dishwashing liquid.

If the TV ad promises a $40 value then gives you a second identical product free then the real value of the product is no more than $20. Beware of buying additional products, accessories and refills before you know whether the product even works or not.

More times than not you can find the same product advertised on TV these days already being sold in the big box deep discount stores like Walmart or Walgreens for the same price you see advertised on TV but without having to pay for shipping or handling.

If a product promises no mess this does not mean absolutely no mess! If a product is supposedly ultra-soft, thick and luxurious maybe expect some surprises like the fabric possibly starting to disintegrate or fall apart after a few wash cycles in the washing machine. Products that promise to loosen stubborn ground-in dirt do not expect it to perform in every conceivable situation. If a product promises no more scrubbing it may only do a fair job in too many instances. If a product promises to flatten and firm you stomach in just weeks and takes just minutes a day to do so do not forget it also always comes with a nutrition plan of healthy eating noted in the small fine print to accomplish the fantastic results. Too many exercise gimmicks and gadgets do no more than a brisk walk would accomplish and the nutrition plan is so strict that doing the nutrition plan alone and you would accomplish the desired fantastic results without even using the exercise gimmick or gadget, so why even buy the device?

If a product promises to blast through debris, clogs and sludge do not expect it to work perfectly on all debris, clogs or sludge! If a product promises to perform regardless of conditions do not always expect it to perform for very long. If a clean up type product claims to hold 20 times its weight in liquid this does not mean all types of liquids, consequently you may find a good sponge to work just as well.

If a product promises to sculpt your entire body in just minutes a day and build lean ripped muscle

and develop a tight sexy body the time it takes to burn even one pound of fat may actually take weeks! If a product promises that it can support hundreds of pounds or has the strength to pull a fully loaded 18-wheeler it may do so but possibly so can other products for less cost.

If a product promises to prolong the life of fruits and vegetables if you store them in the revolutionary advertised storage bag you may find just as satisfying results using much less costly, typical food-storage bags.

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: CONSUMER REPORTS MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2010

As-Seen-On-TV Real Estate Buying Infomercial Shows

When you see a TV show touting the idea of buying beautiful homes for just a few hundred or few thousand dollars what you do not know is the home was possibly purchased for pennies on the dollar when it was condemned. What the TV show does not tell you is whoever bought it for pennies on the dollar had to put up to $100,000 into the condemned home just to fix it up and make it look like the beautiful home you see being touted on TV as being bought for pennies on the dollar!

Furthermore, once you purchase the buying real estate real cheap program after viewing the TV show, what they also do not tell you is you may likely get a call from someone who works in association with the TV show and they will try to sell you on more personalized lessons of how to buy real estate real cheap, personalized lessons which could cost you thousands of dollars! Then if you fall for this angle someone may then call you and try to sell you some low priced but, in reality, overpriced real estate which will seem to be offered at a pretty cheap price, as far as you can tell but, in actuality, may be overpriced by up to 500% of its real market value!

As-Seen-On-TV Stain Removal Products

The products advertised on TV which remove stains may lighten the stains but may the stains may not completely go away as portrayed in the TV advertisement. What they may not tell you is the product does not always work on all stains and the results you get on your own at home may vary widely compared to the demonstration you saw advertised on TV.

Baldness Remedies, Transplants & Color

Spray paint baldness remedies do not advertise that if you get caught in the rain the spray-on dye, you sprayed on your balding scalp to make it look like you have more hair than you really do, may actually come streaking down your face when wet! The spray-on stuff may also leave unsightly brown spots wherever you rest your head. Remember, most everything in advertisements and on TV tends to look better in the ads than it does when viewed up close and in person! This includes cover-up baldness remedies including hair pieces and bad hair transplants.

A botched or bad hair transplant can still cost you up to $25,000 and result in Barbie- doll hair that seems unnaturally stiff, unmanageable, hard to style, appears artificial- looking and/or shows a visibly twisted hairline. Selecting a truly qualified hair transplant doctor is the most critical task.

Some hair transplant doctors should possibly not even be allowed to advertise they perform hair transplantation procedures. Some of these doctors claim they can repair or correct bad hair transplants yet so-called corrective transplants may also be botched. For the victims of botches everyday becomes a bad hair day. If a hair transplant or repair calls attention to itself it may be considered a bad hair transplant. State regulations for quality control may have yet to catch up with the hair transplant industry. Most any incompetent doctor, from podiatrists to dentists, can get into this very lucrative cash cow business and take a weekend crash course then start advertising for hair transplant clients! No state certification or long term training is required! Furthermore, do not always rely on the before and after pictures supplied by the doctors. For one thing they may not even be

surgeries they actually performed themselves! Talk to the doctor's actual patients if you are not absolutely sure about the doctor's credentials and reputation. Better yet, ask to see the doctor's surgery results up close and in person!

Men's hair dye products may be disappointing and prone to fade. Consequently, men should maybe try a highly rated women's hair dye!

Permanent dyes may contain chemicals like ammonia or hydrogen peroxide, which may weaken hair, irritate the scalp and contribute to allergic reactions. Some of these chemicals have been accused of causing cancer in research animals. Critics claim that research seems to suggest that the darkest hair coloring dyes may possibly contribute to a higher risk of rare cancers, like Hodgkin's Lymphoma and multiple myeloma! To take precautionary measures possibly consider limiting use of permanent hair dye to lighter colors or avoid the long term use of permanent hair dyes.

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: CONSUMER REPORTS MAGAZINE JULY 1998

Bargaining To Always Get Your Best Deal

Bargain out of earshot of other customers because management may not be able to afford giving everyone the same deal. If other customers hear you shopping for a bargain management may not feel a bargain price can be offered. Offer to pay cash instead of using a credit card which may be more effective with smaller stores or companies.

Remember, a deep discounter of goods and services already has a low profit margin built-in to their prices being charged so do not ask for more than a 5% discount from deep discounters. Anywhere else you may be able to start bargaining for a 25% discount off the price then negotiate from there.

Explain to the vendor why you deserve a bargain. For example, the item you want is damaged or dented, or you are buying many items today, or you are willing to buy an item on display, or you are buying last year's model, or the item you want has been on sale for a while and is not moving off the shelf, or look for merchandise that has no price on it.

Be prepared to walk away if the price is not right then consider coming back later or try bargaining with another vendor somewhere else. Consider going to the company or store manager instead of bargaining with a salesperson. Salespeople typically do not have the authority to bargain.

Do not bargain during a store's busy hours because whoever you are bargaining with may get too easily distracted. You may have more luck bargaining when store or company business is slow.

Remember, you can also bargain for services too. This includes everything from doctors and dentists to landscapers and car mechanics. You will never know if a bargain price is available if you do not ask for a discount!

Here are some other things to consider. If a repairman shows up late and keeps you waiting, time is money so demand a reduction in the bill but negotiate this before the work is done and make sure you know exactly how much the job will cost you first or the repairman could just end up padding the bill to compensate for the reduction!

Moreover, there may be no such thing as company policy meaning no matter what your request is of a store or company you may get hit with a stern no followed by That's not our company policy.

Company policies may be designed to discourage customers from pursuing complaints and company management knows that many customers will walk away from any such resistance by management. This may be when it pays to make a scene right there in the store but do so in a very polite way For example, say very calmly, I'm sorry but your company policy is not acceptable. Make comments like,

A reputable store would not treat regular customers this way. It's disgraceful.

Remember, NEVER lose your cool or lose your bargaining position of power. No one wants to negotiate with someone that is loud and obnoxious. Always be respectful of everyone you talk to. Assume management wants to try and do their best for you, and never manhandle a company's goods just because you are unhappy at the moment.

If you end up getting into a running battle with a store or company always document every phone call, every person's name and every piece of correspondence. This is to the customer's advantage because companies do not always bother to take notes concerning customer complaints.

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: the book: THE BEST REVENGE, LIVING TWICE AS WELL ON THE SAME INCOME BY BOARDROOM (2002)

Before And After Testimonial Pictures In Advertisements

Too often weight loss gimmick and fad products, like exercise equipment or gadgets, pills, powders and liquid quick fix solutions or formulas, show you before and after pictures of great abs (abdomens) which may or may not be the SAME person! The producers of the advertisements may NOT even feel like they are deceiving the public by showing you before and after pictures which seem to suggest that this flabby stomach was turned into the picture presented next to it in the ad that now looks like a finely chiseled six-pack of abs! The before and after bodies could be that of two COMPLETELY DIFFERENT people wearing the EXACT SAME clothing!

Moreover, the now tremendously in-shape person they show you talking about the product who is being portrayed as a 9 to 5 working class person, like a cashier, housewife or real estate agent, may, in fact, ALSO be a fitness trainer or person who has a regular exercise and nutrition routine that may have contributed more to the testimonials body shape than any questionable weight loss gimmick, fad product or formula ever did!

Also, of course, when the testimonials before picture is taken the producers of the advertisement may ask the testimonial person to relax their body muscles so he or she looks softer and maybe even flabbier, but when they shoot the after picture, the producers may ask the testimonial person to workout, pump up and flex their muscles, as well as suck in their stomach to make them look more well-defined and chiseled suggesting the testimonial person got their muscles from using the advertisers product when in reality he or she did not!

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: ABC-TV GOOD MORNING AMERICA 3/1/02

Buying Yellow Page Telephone Book Ads

If you own a business that advertises in the phone book yellow pages now you may never have to pay full price for yellow page display advertisements again! How? Each year when your yellow page representative comes calling asking you to renew your ad and, of course, increase the size of your ad to keep up with your competitors, try dropping out of the more expensive display ad section and for one year go with a lower cost in-column ad using red or blue lettering to attract potential customers' eyes.

Then next year when it is time to renew your yellow page ad again the sales rep should automatically offer you a display ad at such deep discounted savings that it will be hard to refuse, all just to get you back into the costlier display ad section of the yellow pages.

You could conceivably endlessly play this back and forth game of going from an in-column ad one year and back to a display ad the next year when they offer you hard-to-resist, deep discounted savings to get you back into the display section.

Also, concerning in-column ads, you are senselessly charged more for having your business logo set on the right hand side of the in-column ad compared to when you specifically tell your yellow page rep to please center your logo inside the in-column ad. Your sales rep automatically puts your logo in the more expensive right hand side of the in-column ad unless you, the advertiser, is astute enough to know to ask for the cheaper centered logo position!

Furthermore, the Real Yellow Pages never sends out invoices, they bill your monthly telephone bill so beware of copycat yellow page directories which send you potentially misleading, deceptive invoices that make it look like it came from the Real Yellow Pages hoping you confuse the copycat telephone book with the Real Yellow Pages telephone book and you end up unknowingly paying the copycat invoice by mistake. Remember, only the Real Yellow Pages is allowed to use the fingers walking logo on anything they may send you. Anything that does not have the fingers walking is a copycat publication and not the Real Yellow Pages even though it may say Real Yellow Pages on it!

Carrot And Stick Advertising Scheme

This come-on is one that sucks consumers into sending cash, money orders or personal checks to an advertiser or seller of merchandise time after time, yet you, the consumer, never really gets exactly what was ordered. As long as you, the buyer, stays interested the seller will keep offering up that elusive carrot that would eventually satisfy you, BUT it never ever materializes because the whole scheme is a con-game to rip you off!

Commercialization In America

Corporate marketers are underwriting institutions, endeavors, activities and events from museums to state fairs all of which at one time were ad-free! Liquor and tobacco companies have found a relatively cheap but high profile way to reach consumers during their most unguarded moments. Few creative venues of expression are not beholden to commercial sponsorships anymore! Is creative expression being controlled by corporate interests? Are artists selling out?

Even once rebellious, non-sponsored rock 'n roll music groups have sold out to commercialism! Corporations have realized they can influence younger consumers by sponsoring zoos, plays, car races, you name it, even the Olympics.

Do corporations sponsor events out of goodwill or for some perceived gain now or in the future? If you are not offended by the commercialism in America then it may already be too late for you! They have succeeded in conditioning you to accept it!

Up to 90% of all foods advertised on kids TV shows have questionable nutritional value. Maybe only 2 minutes of every 100 hours of kids TV programming is even devoted to healthy, nutritional messages!

When a TV ad says not sold in stores , if you wait a few months, if the product is of any merit it may end up on store shelves for less than the not sold in stores TV price!

Remember, too that TV programs offering you the opportunity to shop-at-home may never discuss their return rates. They may move a ton of goods but have up to 50% of the products returned by dissatisfied customers who were disappointed with the products!

Additionally, celebrities oftentimes do not succeed in selling enough product to justify what you have to pay them to endorse a product and they may not to improve an ad's persuasiveness. Even ads that focus groups like best may not sell well. Even award winning slick ads may not influence consumer behavior to increase sales. Even if an ad is remembered it may only increase sales by 1% which is a dismal result. Humor may backfire or hardly sell a product compared to traditional sales pitches like product demonstrations, testimonials and non-celebrity spokespersons.

On another note, TV stations are said to be born on the avenue of harlots! Each advertiser may pay vastly differing rates for commercial advertising airtime for the exact same spots during the exact same shows! Stations sell airtime for as much as they can get away with for each and every spot they sell, similar to how harlots price their services by sizing up what they think their johns or customers can afford or are willing to pay!

TV ad producers may exclaim that if you do not pay a lot to create and make your commercial the ad may fail to generate the necessary revenues to keep you advertising on TV. Do not believe it! TV ad producers may be greedy and just want you to spend more money creating an ad than is necessary!

Ad agency slick, artsy craftsy advertising campaigns for their client advertisers too often result in mediocre results especially irritating to client advertisers because of the grandiose display of sales pitches and ego-stroking sessions of the dog and pony show the ad agency used to get the advertiser's business in the first place!

Remember, the awards for the best ads each year often go to ad agencies that no longer even service the client advertiser's business because the slick ad used to win the award did not generate enough business to warrant continuing using the ad agency to work for the client advertiser! Creative ad agency people too often think more about winning awards than they do in generating revenues for their client advertisers who pay ALL the bills!

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: the book: MARKETING MADNESS BY JACOBSON AND MAZUR

Consumer Magazines And Journals

Too many of these type publications, that profess to publish articles to help consumers make better choices when making buying decisions, may not always have the consumer's best interest in mind. Any publication that accepts or relies on advertising to stay in business may not always be totally unbiased when it comes to the consumer's interests! Also beware of advertisement-driven, so-called consumer publications that do stories recommending certain products then turn around and sell ads to the manufacturers of the same or similar products!

The consumer's best bet for totally unbiased reporting would possibly be to rely on those publications that accept absolutely no advertising whatsoever.

Donating A Car To Charity

Too many advertisements you hear or see asking you to donate your old, unwanted used car to charity may not give more than 5%, and possibly even less than 5%, of the car's value to charity! So beware which organization you donate your car to.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) recommends you donate a car to organizations that devote at least 65% of their donations to good works. You can find recommended organizations at the BBB's National Charity Reports found at bbb.org/charity. You can also find good information at charitynavigator.org. Both services are free.

When donating a vehicle always remove the license plates, unless the particular state you reside in says otherwise. Also remove the registration and inspection stickers. Doing this and you will not be held accountable for a later owner's violations!

Drug Company Research Advertisements

Drug manufacturers may be suppressing their own research results which, if leaked out to the public, could conceivably threaten profits at the expense of patients who are having to take these drug manufacturers' drugs! Research may be uncovering cheaper alternatives to drugs now available but if a drug company halts or attempts to hold up or hinder a certain study's results from getting published, based on so-called scientific objections, consumers may needlessly be spending more money for certain drugs than they should have to.

These findings raise troubling questions about drug manufacturers' influence over research findings on which their profits may depend. Who knows if critical research findings may be locked up in a particular manufacturer's laboratory, findings which could be saving lives or at least offering up cheaper drug alternatives?

Concerning drug advertisements, they are allowed to hype or exaggerate a drug's benefits in the advertisements' main body of copy or ad text, then only have to disclose the drugs' risks in the ads' small, fine print that many people do not tend to read or cannot even understand due to all of the unclear medical jargon.

Drug ads may lead doctors to prescribing more expensive drugs when cheaper, less advertised drugs may exist! Critics charge that drug ads should have to make the risks of taking certain drugs clearer in the ads, and spelled out in bigger, bolder print, as well as offer information about alternative drugs or non-drug, unconventional treatments.

One survey of ads found that 62% of the drug ads published in medical journals were inaccurate or misleading. For example, some drugs described as effective may have severe side effects that are not fully explained while other costlier drugs with higher profit margins, advertised as a better choice, may have equivalent counterparts available that are just as good and cheaper to buy for the consumer!

A leading consumer magazine reported that possibly only about 40% of the drug ads published today may be fairly describing the benefits and risks to consumers! Ads may also exaggerate the claims of their competitors drugs' side effects by trying to put their competitors' drugs in a negative light.

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: MIAMI HERALD NEWSPAPER 1/19/97 and 4/16/97 Endorsements And Product Placement Ads

TRUST is the celebrity's product. Essentially the celebrity being used in an advertisement is saying, Use me. I'm famous and I'm for sale. Use me to sell your potentially unsafe, poorly made and/or unnecessary products and services. I can sell almost anything! Consumers trust me because I'm famous.

Concerning product placement many a deal have been brokered between moviemaking film companies and network TV shows to conspicuously script in or place certain brand name products out in the open in a movie or TV show so consumers will obviously see it or hear the product name mentioned. So say good bye to commercial-free entertainment programming.

Product placement is a valuable form of advertising because unsuspecting viewers may be more likely to accept the implied endorsement of celebrities using a brand name product in a movie or TV show compared to the believability of a typical 15 second, 30 second or 60 second celebrity endorsement advertisement in which every viewer watching knows the celebrity has been corrupted or bought and paid for. Product placement is stealth advertising which is somewhat of a subliminal form of selling brand name products even if it is inherently deceiving.

In the old days when a brand name product was placed in a movie the product manufacturer would likely return the favor by sending the movie company a year's supply of free product. However, today, placing products for maximum audience exposure is BIG BUSINESS with huge sums of money being paid to moviemakers and TV shows by product manufacturers.

Product placement fees vary based on if the brand name product is plugged verbally, visually or if it gets hands-on-use by one of the celebrities in the movie or TV show. Even animated cartoon TV shows and movies are getting into the act.

Is there nothing sacred anymore or does everything have its price today? A product placed in a TV show or movie is believed to be up to 2 to 3 times more likely to be remembered by consumers compared to a 15, 30 or 60 second TV commercial advertisement for the same product..

For example, if a celebrity wears a specific brand of clothing or accessories, like sunglasses, the product manufacturers may quickly see a demand for the product being placed in the TV show or movie. Product placement practices have even gone so far as to knock or put down and/or cast aspersions against the competitors' product lines! Yes, it is a dog eat dog business.

Advertisers claim that product placement simply serves the moviemakers' creative needs and/or to make the movies and TV shows more realistic. However, the bottom line is always to sell more and more goods and services by the careful control of product images and appearances for positive and memorable effects to maximize brand name impact by any means possible!

Other avenues for product placement include music videos, Broadway plays, books, even the board games people play and the list goes on and on.

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCES: ADBUSTERS MAGAZINE SPRING 1997 and the book MARKETING MADNESS BY JACOBSON AND MAZUR

Factory Serviced Marketing Gimmick

Factory serviced is an advertiser's way of saying a product has been broken then fixed for re-sale, seemingly as if it is brand new, and then it is sold possibly to unsuspecting consumers. The repair should be noticeable but do not expect a brand new product once it has been fixed and repaired for re-sale even though it may be advertised to seem like it is a new product instead of being refurbished or factory serviced!

Free Credit Report Advertisements

Many advertisers offering free credit reports use the free credit report to try and sell you other services you may not need, like a costly yearly subscription to a service which will monitor any changes in your credit report under the assumption it will protect you against identity theft and other fraudulent activity.

No consumer watchdog groups recommend that you pay a somewhat hefty subscription fee for these type services since the services may be of limited overall effectiveness.

When you are offered a free credit report you may also be asked to pay for your credit score which may not typically be offered for free. You should only pay around $7 to get your credit score. There is no need to pay much more than this. To get your credit score inexpensively simply call toll free 1-877-3228228 or go to www.annualcreditreport.com.

Generics And Grocery Store Brands

Who do you think manufacturers, produces and/or processes the cheaper generic or grocery store brand products? Like many small micro-beer labels, many of these products are actually made by the larger, national name brand manufacturers!

The large, nationally known and world renown manufacturers may also produce the generic grocery store brands to help fill a need for lower cost quality products while at the same time help maintain market share. Even if the product is sold for less and under a different name, what difference does it make as long as it sells more product?

Non-advertised generic grocery store brands and the highly advertised, nationally known brand names all being made by the same company is similar to the 2 or 3 soap companies making 10 different soaps and detergents which are essentially all the same even though each is marketed differently. They figure if one sales pitch for one product does not get your money then another sales pitch for essentially the same product probably will.

Good Cause Ads And Name Endorsements

Consumer product companies pay money to nationally known, prestigious, non-profit organizations for the commercial use of their good name to be used right alongside the consumer product company, just to help boost a product's image in the public's eye! This is like exchanging credibility for cash!

Products endorsed by non-profit groups may be no better than lower priced generic brands of the same products but consumers may pay more for products endorsed by so-called credible non-profit groups!

Sports arenas and other buildings may be too expensive to build and maintain without accepting millions of dollars from corporate conglomerates which, in return demand the right to name or re-name the structures using corporate conglomerate names and logos!

This means stadiums and buildings everywhere no longer represent in name our community pride, but now must bear the logos of power wielding corporations.

In addition, good cause ads painlessly ease the conscience of consumers by convincing them to buy certain products while appealing to their socially responsible nature.

Advertisers find that donating a portion of sales to charity, even less than 1%, may more than pay-off in getting public goodwill resulting in higher profits. Is this charitable giving driven more by doing good deeds or is it driven more by sophisticated market considerations? A direct contribution to a charity may do more for the charity than some for-profit, donation seeking, advertising gimmick!

Beware of ads that say, For every one sold we will donate... or For every charge on your credit card a portion of each purchase goes to so-and-so cause. As a result individual and corporate charitable contributions may actually decrease compared to when the charity may have received donations directly from donors in low-profile, non-marketed ways!

Social issues sell, so to compensate for bad behavior, unhealthy products or environmental waste, an advertiser may advertise the donation of a portion of their profits to non-profit groups, revenues generated by an ad campaign to boost the seller's image as well as bottom line profits!

Some advertisers may only employ the language or imagery of doing good deeds for social causes while their lobbyists continue to fight against public interest issues, like clean air laws or auto fuel economy standards!

Today, you may find polluters promoting themselves as environmentalists! For example, the makers of bio-degradable trash bags may neglect to say the product only decomposes when exposed to sunlight! Consequently, when trash bags are piled one on top of the other in a landfill the plastic may never decompose!

As we have become concerned about the environment, now about 20% of all new products hitting the market today make some kind of potentially exaggerated, good-for-the-environment claim. However, marketers may be spending 100 times as much to advertise the claims compared to how much they are actually donating