Blatant lying on TV ad.

z1a

"Flash cleaner" - "Cleans the impossible"
Obviously it can't, but according to advertising standards it's OK to lie as it's called "Puffery"
When I come to sell my car I think I'll say it does 250MPH, and averages 400MPG, and it's OK 'cos it's just puffery.

Mr.Generous

now you mention it all the cleaning products talk bull****, bang and the dirt is ... er ... still there. Funny how some products are regulated far more than others.

Bogalot

I'm not sure you understand the meaning of puffery. It refers to claims that are obviously exaggerated, to such an extent that no reasonable person would believe them to be true. The Flash example is clearly a nonsense, whereas your car example would be a misrepresentation of fact.

z1a

I'm well aware of the meaning of puffery, my point is that puffery or not, it shouldn't be allowed on an ad.

Hedgehog99

"Hello, I'm Cleopatra" and I eat this yummy sawdust called ancient grains (or whatever it really is called).

Complete nonsense.

shaun_from_Africa

Should the following also be banned for lying?


Aliens talking about mashed potato:

& A family of chimps drinking tea:

teddysmum

Just buy Astonish products, as they are a fraction of the price and work very well.

fairy_lights

Clean the impossible? What does that even mean?

JJG

Bogalot wrote: »

I'm not sure you understand the meaning of puffery. It refers to claims that are obviously exaggerated, to such an extent that no reasonable person would believe them to be true. The Flash example is clearly a nonsense, whereas your car example would be a misrepresentation of fact.

The car example is also obviously puffery to be fair.

redux

Wallpaper talking to a dog about insurance

A penguin wearing an overcoat, inside a house

Migrant African meerkats pretending to be from eastern Europe

MSE Cheap Energy Club not cheaper than the cheapest

esuhl

The worst ones are for cosmetics where all facts are replaced by opinion. Like, "this cream reduces the appearance of wrinkles*" and in the small-print it says, "* As judged by 13 out of 20 slightly blind people experiencing a placebo effect, who we bribed with free food until they would agree to anything. Please ignore the twenty-seven times we tried this with other groups and not one of the twenty agreed with us.".

You could replace every cosmetics commercial with a voiceover that says, "This is stuff. We have no proof, but some people think it makes them look better. We've made it really expensive and put it in fancy packaging so we can fool gullible people into thinking it's all scientifically proven. But it's just mud out of our back garden with all the snails taken out."

Then there's what can only be called etymological abuse. Have a product that you want to sell, but it doesn't do anything? Just think of what you want people to think it does, then invent a word that sounds a bit like it. Hey presto, you can circumvent any rules requiring adverts to be honest!

You can sell "Nutrisse" that isn't nutritious! You can sell "activus regularum" has nothing to do with "regularity".

Or you can go all out with the "now you see it, now you don't trick". As in, "this product was inspired by the science of DNA"... and then skim over the fact that there is no scientific basis for any product claim and make it sound like some kind of advanced nanotechnology that must work wonders and cost a fortune... when it's just mud out of their back garden with all the snails removed. Now you see scientists in lab coats working with DNA... and quick as a flash, we're back to selling you mud.