More Ways to Get Snookered by Advertising

Last time we talked about the most blatant forms of puffery. Now, let's show you the more subtle ways you can get snookered by advertising. Let's say you're on the lookout for some new computer equipment for your business. You happen across an ad for a retailer called CP MAX. Their web ad reads:

The biggest computer sale ever is now on at CP MAX. New computers from just $400. Better printers from just $125. Get up to 60% your computer purchases. Guaranteed low price! We can help you find the computer for your needs. Try our Expresse® check out for the best, check out process-- speedier and more convenient. We give you more. Visit CP MAX now!

Once again, doesn't this sound enticing? Well again, it's designed to be. Let's take the above copy and just see how little words can make a big difference in what we perceive. The examples below illustrate the use of several very clever but subtle tactics.

INVISIBLE WORDS

Advertisers are very good at embedding little words that make us believe they are saying one thing when they are really saying something quite different. For example, we may likely infer from the ad that we can get a computer for $400.00 and a printer for $125. But we need to take into account the invisible word from. They have computers from $400.00 Sure, they may have a $400.00 computer for sale, but the computer we want is likely to be much higher in price.

Another invisible word is up to. It is theoretically possible that we could save up to 60% off most computer purchases. However, it is much more likely that we will save much less. All that the ad really claims is that we will not save more than 60% off the purchases we make.

A third invisible word is can. Yes, he can help you find what you need. But that doesn't mean they will. Another invisible word is helps. Yes, they may help you. But how much? And will they help you any more or less than a competitor?

The ubiquitous new is another invisible word. Often we hear "new" and we think "improved", but the ad does not claim that the computers are better than the old ones or that they offer any improvements whatsoever. In fact, they could be new to the store, not new to the world, and as such offer no improvements whatsoever.

Other invisible words you can look are "works on", "fights", "acts on", "works against". Just because a spam control marketer claims to "fight spam", doesn't mean that it stops spam. It just tries to control it. By how much? Who knows?

INCOMPLETE COMPARISIONS

We are often tricked by the use of incomplete comparisons. The ad claims that the check out service is speedier and more convenient. But the frame of reference or comparison is not made clear. Is it speedier than other competitors' service; speedier than the service the company used to have in place; or speedier than buying a computer in Russia? Are the printers better than competitors' printers or just better than the printers you would get at a used typewriter shop? What about the phrase "we give you more". We give you more what? More selection? More service? More grief? We really don't know. Very likely though, we interpret it as having more of what we want.

IMPLIED SUPERIORITY

Another trick advertisers use is to claim superiority when brands on the market are really equal or at parity. Technically, a retailer could claim that they have the best, speediest and most convenient check out center because no one uses a better one. Since everyone's check out system is the same anyone can claim to be best. Advertisers in these circumstances can't say, "we have a better, speedier and more convenient check out process than Office Max", but they can say, "No check out service is better, faster, and speedier than ours". This is true because they are all the same.

INVENTED WORDS

Advertisers often register new names and patent and market products or services that seem to imply, but do not state, improvement over the status quo. This company claims to use Expresse® check out service. We infer that this check out service must be good because (a) they advertise it, and (b) its name sounds like it should be fast. However, the system could be lousy and incredibly slow and the advertiser could still claim to use the Expresse® check out service.

JUXTASPOSED IMPERATIVES

The term juxtaposed imperatives is just a fancy name given to two imperative sentences placed side by side. The sentences make no causal connection between them, but we tend to infer one because they are juxtaposed or placed beside one another. For example, the claim, "Stay healthy. Use HeartPlus" is likely to be interpreted as "if you use HeartPlus, then you will stay healthy". The ad really does not make this explicit claim, but we'd like to believe it did, so we infer that it does. In the sample copy above, the claim "We give you more. Visit CP MAX now" could well be interpreted as "if you go to CP MAX, then we will give you more", even though the ad doesn't explicitly state that.

Do you have this down? Well, read the typical ad copy below and we'll put in bold the words that people use to infer more about the product than is typically true.

"Only NewBody gives you smoother, healthier skin. Our unique Proenzyme® treatment can help your body retain up to 50% more moisture. Get younger looking skin. Use NewBody today."

See all the subtle ways you can be manipulated? Watch out!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Deborah J. MacInnis is the Charles L. and Ramona I. Hilliard Professor of Business Administration at the Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, and a co-author of Brand Admiration: Build a Business People Love. She has consulted with companies and the government in the areas of consumer behavior and branding. She is theory development editor at the Journal of Marketing, and former co-editor of the Journal of Consumer Research. Professor MacInnis has served as president of the Association for Consumer Research and vice-president of conferences and research for the American Marketing Association's Academic Council. She has received the Journal of Marketing's Alpha Kappa Psi and Maynard awards for the papers that make the greatest contribution to marketing thought. She is the co-author of a leading textbook on consumer behavior and is co-editor of several edited volumes on branding.