There is a general saying; ‘we deceive to gain advantage and to hide our weaknesses’. People, especially advertisers normally deceive their consumers in order to reap from their ignorance. Deception is the use of trickery or deceit to get what one wants. It entails many types of omissions, whose main aim is to distort the complete truth (Carson, 2010). Advertisers have perfected this art of deception to hide from their product weaknesses and gain profit in the end. Society considers deception as a relational transgression, which normally leads to betrayal and mistrust among individuals. Deception can take many forms that may include propaganda, dissimulation, distraction, concealment, camouflage and even self-deception (Carson, 2010).
Advertising and Deception
The most common form of deception is the use of misleading or false statements in commercial transactions. This is referred to as deceptive or false advertising. False advertising is any promotion or advertising, which misrepresents the characteristics, nature, geographic origin or quality of services, goods or commercial activities (Helmer, 2005). This concept of deception is illegal in most countries. However, advertisers can still find various legal ways of deceiving consumers since there is a thin line between deception and advertising (Hausman, 2000). One should remind himself/herself of a saying; when the deal is too good, think twice.
Most governments normally want people to know the truth. In this case,
In the United States, The FTC (federal Trade Commission) has the authority to impose penalty against advertisers whom violate Federal Standards for truthful advertising. The FTC considers a message to be deceptive, if they include statements that are likely to mislead reasonable customers and the statements that are likely to mislead reasonable customers and the statements are an important part of purchasing decision. A failure to include important information are also considered deceptive. Also, the FTC also looks at so-called “implied claims,?” Claims that you don’t explicitly make but that can be inferred from what you do or don’t say.
A deceptive advertising is a false advertising that uses confusing, misleading, and untrue statements to promote a product. An ad is deceptive if it contains a statement or omits an information that is likely to mislead the consumers.
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC),advertising must be truthful and non-deceptive, advertisers must have evidence to back up their claims , and advertisements cannot be unfair, ccording to advertising law, an advertisement is considered deceptive if it contains a statement or omits information thatis likely to mislead consumers acting reasonably under the circumstances and ismaterial; - that is, important to a consumer's decision to buy or use the product. Essentially, the law states that your advertising cannot be misleading. You have to tell the truth, or clearly label your ads so that no reasonable person could mistake your intent. Advertisers [and their advertising agencies] need to have a reasonable basis for advertising claims before they are published. According to the FTC, an
“Huck Finn helped a N***** to get his freedom; and if I were to ever see anyone from that town again I’d be ready to get down and lick his boots for shame” (Twain 215).Throughout Huckleberry Finn Huck’s views as well as society’s conflict. This novel shows the view points society has on everyday situations and how they are still present today including; morality vs. society, the importance of education, and the control materialistic items have over people. The novel Huck Finn proves that personal morality is not always in alignment with society’s beliefs.
In society, deception, cunningness, and other uses of trickery are quite common. Whether these themes are seen easily or are placed more discreetly, they are found in society often. Simply take a look at any political ad, certain sexual assault cases, or any form of social media, especially dating apps such as Tinder and Bumble. More often than not, political advertisements, sexual assault cases, and social media involve extraordinary amounts of deception, cunning words, and lies to call someone to a certain action. Political advertisements contain propaganda to push a political view. Sexual assault cases frequently begin with cunning, seductive words used to draw someone into an act they do not desire to commit. Social media is possibly the most common form of deception as countless amounts of people edit their photos to attain a desired body image or skin tone, essentially cat-fishing anyone who follows them. Furthermore, deception and cunningness are not only common in society, but is also present in literature in several ways. In Geoffrey Chaucer’s epic poem, “The Canterbury Tales,” Chaucer uses seduction, craftiness, and trickery as a form of persuasion, revenge, and to prove tricks do not come without consequences.
Deception is most successful when there is a grain of truth blended into the lie. The liar’s perversion of the truth is blinding to many people. Science writer Maria Konnikova notes “We con ourselves as much as [con artists] con us, because we supply the
Advertising is brainwashing Americans. Advertising is full of deceptive practices such as lying, distorting facts, and presenting products out of context. These practices tend to cause negative effects on Americans. Consumers are becoming insecure about themselves because of the deceptive practices in marketing beauty products, children are being enticed to use unhealthy and inappropriate products and have unhealthy behaviors, such as change in their attitude, and Consumers are spending hundreds of dollars on products, that are falsely advertised.
Many of these may seem like obvious tactics that advertisers and influence agents will utilize to sway our opinion. However, when we are not prepared to scrutinize and resist them, these principles will often work subliminally and quite powerfully. Thus, an important part of resisting these common influence tactics is awareness of their fundamental operating principles, contexts in which they are most easily provoked, and the best methods to avoid falling
In American consumer society, it is common knowledge that businessmen are rarely 100% truthful. Exaggerated advertisements, cheapened materials, and other similar practices have become part of business. The topic of debate, however, is whether this dishonesty in business is ethical. According to Albert Carr in the article “Is Business Bluffing Ethical?”, bluffing is morally acceptable within the parameters of doing business.
Cases of false affirmation occurred where the buyer was convinced to buy something by the false statements of the seller;
Deceptive Advertising Practices Although deceptive practices may benefit more profit in the short run, such practices will eventually harm their business in the long run. If consumers do not get what they expect, they will switch to more reliable products. This can also cause a backlash, if corporations are more focused on profits than customer service, particularly for a company such as Apple, which claims a long-term relationship with customers. Therefore, Apple Inc. should do its possible endeavor to avoid deceptive practices in the future and
The statutory prohibition of misleading or deceptive conduct under section 18(1) of the Australian Consumer Law provides:
Serving the public is the best thing in the world . For the sake of serving people Advertising, public relations, marketing communications, news, and editorial all share a common objective of truth and high ethical standards. Research suggest that consumers do believe in honest and ethical advertising. Now the industry has started growing and they have committed to highest standards of truth and accuracy. Professionals have to build and maintain consumer trust so that they can
Each day we are bombarded with advertisements from a plethora of corporations in every waking moment of our lives. Advertising agencies have become so advanced at what they do, that often times we may not even realize we are being advertised a product. This raises an interesting ethical dilemma over a certain type of advertising: persuasive advertising. Philosophers, economists, and business professionals have debated over whether or not persuasive advertising is an immoral violation of the autonomy of consumers. While not all forms of advertising are in and of themselves certainly immoral, persuasive advertising is particularly reprehensible due to the fact that not only does it manipulate our unconscious desires of which we are completely unaware in order to sell a product, but it also routinely leads us to act against our own best interest, thus overriding our autonomy.
I will now tell you about the more common lies in our society, which are also the ones that we face every single day in our lives. These include things such as advertisements, which we see tons of every single day, whether it be on the internet, the TV, the newspaper, the radio. or elsewhere, we will most likely see at least a few advertisements every single day. And of course, we all know when these advertisements are