> Another one that really bugs me in advertising is "up to" as in:
>
> You can save up to 90%!
> You can make up to $30,000 a month!
> You can lose up to 25 pounds!
>
> If you substitute the equivalent "no more than" you will see that
> the advertisers are not making much of a claim at all (of course).
> I guess what bugs me isn't so much the advertisers as the general
> public who don't even bother examining the claim.
Try looking at the small print at the end of a TV ad. It's usually so small that
unless you've got good eyesight, you can't read it, and even if you can, you
certainly havn't got the time to. Also, it's not always put in the first
place you'd think of looking (ie, the bottom of the screen), and it's not
even necessarily at the end. I've noticed that advertisers use misdirection
to hide the small print. It is most likely to ocurr when the voice over is
relaying information that is relevant to the listener. Cunning.
It reminds me of an ad I saw in Viz once (I don't think you get this outside the
UK, but Martz and Dave Pape at least should know what I'm talking about - It's
a comic strip magazine aimed at adults, with characters such as "Sid the Sexist",
"Buster Gonad and his Unfeasably large testicles" etc...) which read:
"Magical Mystical Mirror - Will make you look your best in any condition.
Small-print: It should be noted that the Magical Mystical Mirror
is neither Magical nor Mystical, and will not produce the effect
it claims to."
Drakir