"And, after all, what is a lie? 'Tis but the truth in masquerade." -Lord Byron
In just about every English class I’ve ever taken, the issue of advertising has always come up because of the amount of dishonesty behind it. ‘Weasel Words’ by William Lutz is another essay repeating this point to me, warning others about the tricks the industry uses to trick us into investing in their products. Whenever I run into one of these essays I always end up thinking the same thing. ‘Why is this such a big deal?’ To me, it doesn’t appear that the advertisers aren’t doing anything that I don’t do myself.
Every day, we all manipulate words in a similar manner to what these advertisers are doing. We shape sentences and choose certain words or details to convey a message to another person. I don’t think misinforming the public about products is justifiable or good advertising. However, if advertisers are out of line for exaggerating facts or twisting the truth, poets and lyricists must be as well. It seems childish to single out advertisers and politicians for knowing how to manipulate our language while ignoring the fact that almost every work of art or every conversation we have uses the same tactics.
With all this said, I believe purposefully misleading customers to buy a product is wrong. But I also think that dramatizing an idea or telling a story in a way to make it appeal is a part of our nature. It might be dishonest to lie but it might also be unintentional.
-Carolyn Sheedy
3 comments:
I had a hard time understanding this article, I felt as if the ideas contradicted one another. The beginning of the response you stated that “advertisers aren’t doing anything wrong” and at the end of the response you stated that “misleading customers to buy a product is wrong”. I think that weasel words pull in the consumer and force them to buy the product. When this happens, it directly shows that the advertisers are doing their jobs.
This is a very interesting way to look at the Lutz reading. I do agree that this issue may be overly dramatized. By now shouldn't we be able to catch on and filter out the bullshit that is fed to us by the media? I also really liked that you pointed out how everyone manipulates their wording for their own benefit, not just advertisers. Although I still think that the way some ads promote certain products is unethical.
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