Jun 10, 2003 01:22 AM
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(Updated Jun 10, 2003 01:22 AM)
Having spent some years working for a local, weekly, newspaper and, during that time, sold advertising space to both business houses and to members of the public I can truly say that you should not believe everything that you read in advertising media.
Most advertisers are as honest as they can be to get their own message across and the first words that you should be wary of are, FREE, Unique, The Only, Largest, There are many others but I would imagine you get the idea.
Some advertisers use emotive words to sell their message with warnings to the unbeliever if they should fail to send for something or other. Here a favourite word is, Last as in the last one available unless you act quickly. Free is used extensively such as you get on the Supermarket shelves, 'Buy one and get one Free, ' who ever heard of such philanthropy, why not say we are selling this article at half price. This would be more true if you knew what the correct price was! However, advertising is there to try and sell goods and you would not buy anything if it was described as, 'This article is purposely overpriced in fact it is double the price in order that you will buy two if we say it is half price!'
Advertising is therefore a mine-field. Tread carefully, look for the small print. You will often find a small phrase after a bold statement such as, 'We are the only business offering this item for sale in India' this would be followed by small print, (We believe this statement to be true)in a get-out if you find the statement to be false.
Therefore, don't believe all that you read but do believe the small print.
Les(Scorpio)
