Eggshell Green

Mr Tit Award

Ok, after reading about the man suing Lynx after failing to get a girlfriend, I have to say that advertisers and those that control advertisements worldwide get my My Tit Award today.

It might not be the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard today, but it certainly got me thinking about the rubbish that advertisers are able to get away with.

Everyone seems to claim that they’re the best or cheapest or any other superlative that one can think of in relation to their product. However there can only be one number one so how does that work…?

How about those “if you find cheaper we’ll match/beat it” type claims? That implies the store has the best prices, but not always. They only mean that if you can be arsed going somewhere else, then coming back again with proof that the other place has a better price, then they’ll match it, or if you’re lucky they’ll beat it by a small fraction which in most cases wouldn’t be worth the petrol and effort it took for you to return. Yet they are allowed to make these claims to consumers who would assume they’re getting the best deal – is that not deceptive? How much of an advertisement can we believe nowadays?

There is a certain assumption that advertisements are not to be taken seriously if it’s obvious that their claims are just for effect. I suppose Lynx relies on this defence as you shouldn’t expect women to flock to any man just because he’s wearing Lynx. But if you take that imagery away from their ads then you’re effectively left with nothing. Come to think of it, most ads are like this.

Take away the claims that are only for effect, and most products would be seen as “same-same but different”. It’s the fact that most things are made “equal but some are more equal than others” – depending on how much they can trash-talk their products I suppose.

Tags: media

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