ACS                Lies, damn lies and advertisements

In Victorian time the scamsters told outright lies in their advertisements.  Today, legislation has virtually (all though not one hundred percent of the time) outlawed lying adverts.  But advertiser are clever bastards, they tell their lies in much more sophisticate ways.  I discuss some of the techniques below.  A lot of the time, though the readers are as much to blame as the scamsters themselves.  Who was it said "there's one born every minute"?

Iget a lot of small catalogues delivered through the door.  There must be enough mugs to make the practice worth while.  Just look at some of the wording:

Fabulous    The word means that what is being referred to is the subject of a fable.  And in my vocabulary, a fable is a lie

Super             My dictionary defines the word as "exceptionally fine".  Now if any advertiser stated that his product was other than "exceptionally fine", that approbation might have some meaning

Up to              Just think.  That statement means that the product is between zero and the figure quoted.  In some mathematical senses, 'up to' could include negative quantities.  In other words 'up to' has no meaning except to state that it is not higher than the figure quoted.  In fact, 'up to' is negative advertising that deludes the ignorant reader into thinking that it is a positive statement.

There are a series of words that seem to be 'a must' in any advert.

'Electronic' is almost always used instead of  'electrical'.  I am not aware that there is any strict technical difference between the two words.  Respectable common usage, however, refers to 'electronic' as using radio or semi-conductor techniques, as distinct from simple lighting or power usage.

'Turbo' actually is an adjective from 'turbine''.  The word is regularly used to make the device appear to be much more powerful than it actually is.

'Laser' is fitted in whenever the advertiser can't think of any other plaudit.  As it is so far removed from the actual device that it seems that the Courts just refer to it as "advertising puff".  That is the polite legal way of saying that it is 'bilge'.  Judges have to be very measured in their language.  The Lord Chancellor wouldn't like the legal profession to stoop to the language that most of us use.

To be continued ....................