All marketers are liars Part 2 There's an old joke in the ad biz: "You only need one thing to succeed in thed advertising business: sincerity. And when you learn to fake that you've got it made!" The truth is not so far from the exaggeration. Anyone who has (like me) been in the ad game for any amount of time (I've done 20 years hard labour) can tell you that not only are the ads insincere, the people are too. Charles Revson, the founder of Revlon cosmetics said "In the factory we make cosmetics, but in the store we sell hope." That's all any markter can sell.. You can only hope what they sell you works as promised! "Promise, great promise is thr soul of an advertisement," said Dr Samuel Johnson. When he was auctioneer to sell a departed friend's brewery, he made the famous statement from the podium, "We are not here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but the potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice." Not quite the truth, not quite a lie. Advertising people aren't allowed to tell blatant lies, but they are allowed to gild the lily. Like the sales person in the clothing store telling you, "This makes you look slimmer..."
Advertising people aren't ethically challenged. They are rarely challenged by anything or anyone. Ask anyone who has been a client of an ad agency. Did they laugh so hard at your jokes when you ceased being a client? Did they fawn on you and buy you amazing gifts and take you to expensive restaurants once your hand no longer fondled the purse strings? Surely they weren't being insincere all that time?  ¶ 7:48 PM