My vote is for the companies that design closets. The photos in their ads routinely show closets that are drenched in sunlight while the owners of those closets always seem to possess exactly three pairs of (identical and very clean) pants or skirts but not a single accordion, hockey stick, papier-mache dragon, or any of the other stuff that actually lives in closets.
On the other end of the spectrum, here’s a funny ad campaign from Ocean City, Md., urging tourists to get to its beaches before the ocean evaporates. This is the cleverest repurposing I have seen yet of climate-change panic.
Who gets your vote for most misleading ads?
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Anyone seen the commercial that starts with the attractive woman riding in the car, “This is my ulcerative colitis story…”
Italian ads for mobile games, wallpapers, ringers… shouting “get it for free” as the small text on the screen quickly scrolls by warning you that it’s most assuredly not free and you’re implicitly going to be billed five bucks a week for some kind of subscription. Yuck.
The non-commercials by oil companies that occur on PBS in the gaps between actual programs. They cast these companies as “explorers” facing “energy challenges”. Lots of clouds and trees and crashing waves. Gimme a break.
Those ubiquitous male enhancement ads…..I would buy but I’m a little short.
Diet and weight loss programs/supplements/exercise gear.
Remember, they all have to say “Results not typical” somewhere because otherwise it’s legally false advertising. None of those programs or projects (including the big ones like Weight Watchers) has ever successful for more than 2% of their clients for longer than about six months. Most of those 2% that do well for six months are back where they started a couple years later.
Gotta go with the beauty industry – “The miracle ingredient in our moisturizer will make you 6 inches taller and 30 lbs. lighter! Please ignore the fact that this is the same commercial as we ran last year, with a different miracle ingredient name dubbed in!”
i’d vote for the mcdonald ad in india.. they call it a “happy MEAL” for INR 20. and heck, it goes down in a single gulp.
There’s an ad out right now for a Honda SUV said to get “great gas mileage.” 23 MPG for Highway. Yeah, GREAT gas mileage… it’s as though by simply saying your car is good on gas it becomes good on gas. what a joke.