Strange advertising words

[Texas Proud]

OK, I was driving today and heard something on the radio that made me go 'HMMMMM'....


I am trying to remember the exact words, but cannot be sure of them...


It was a car company selling... well, cars... but the guy said they had 'previously inventoried' or 'previously shown' cars for sell...


What does that mean? Used? Certified? Who knows.... I will have to listen some more and see if it pops up again...




SOOO, what strange things have you heard or seen in advertising that is trying to hide what is actually being sold?

 

[txtig]

I answer the phone. A recorded voice says “Don’t hang up. This is not a sales call.” Then they launch into a sales pitch for pain management services.

 

[Walt34]

I answer the phone. A recorded voice says “Don’t hang up. This is not a sales call.” Then they launch into a sales pitch for pain management services.

I got the same one. They are now blocked on the call blocker.

 

[imoldernu]

The one I love, is the (all kinds) TV ad for (your choice)an item that is a fantastic buy for only $19.95... and if you order now, "Free Shipping!".

Wait!!!!... If you buy now, we'll send a second one, free shipping . Just pay a separate fee.

Duh.... anyone know what that means?

 

[CaptTom]

Maybe they charge for "handling?"

I'm always tempted to call and say "Send me the product. Don't bother handling it."

Disposable diapers were relatively new when I was young. And nowhere near as high-tech as they are now. To this day I remember thinking how odd it was that one company advertised that they used a "real hourglass design."

I wondered, what is the alternative? A "fake hourglass design?" That extra word (real) had no meaning at all. Either it has an hourglass design, or it doesn't. It's not made out of a "real" hourglass!

Once I started looking for those emotionally charged but meaningless words, I found them all over, in just about every ad and product package.

 

[Walt34]

Once I started looking for those emotionally charged but meaningless words, I found them all over, in just about every ad and product package.

As an elective in college I took a class in Marketing. It was one of the more enlightening classes about a daily life issue (advertising) that I have ever taken.

There are people who spend entire careers studying store lighting, product display and photography, packaging colors and layout and on and on and on, with the sole objective of "creating value in the consumer's mind" i.e., making you want to buy something you didn't know you wanted.

Personally I'm hard put to think of a more stupefyingly boring career than that.

 

[Red Badger]

One of the divisions of my megacrap was in the food chain biz. When you see that juicy burger, steak, chicken, etc on tv, rest assured, it's plastic. Ditto for salads, veggies, everything.

A real burger could have the cheese on one side more than the other. Nothing left to chance.

 

[MichaelB]

When it comes to marketing-speak, nothing beats the definition of save. The more you spend, the more you save.

 

[Tailgate]

Capitalism is built on the premise that we will buy things from each other, rather then let the government control goods and services....for lack of a better term, it takes ‘advertising’ to make this work.... what we all find distasteful is called puffery...and it’s not necessarily illegal to boast or exaggerate claims.. outright intentional lying and misdirection is fraud and is, of course, illegal. BTW, I spent 40 years in advertising and I loved it. It was wonderful to help a business succeed and grow.. but many times I walked away from crooks and liars and those who preyed upon people’s weaknesses. Sacrificed hundreds of thousands in billings over the years.
Now, if you want to talk about political advertising, that opens a whole new category of sewage.

 

[Walt34]

When it comes to marketing-speak, nothing beats the definition of save. The more you spend, the more you save.

My ex-wife was one to get caught up in that. She came home one afternoon all proud that what she bought was all on sale and that she'd "saved" at least 30% on everything. I said "How much would you have saved if you'd stayed home?"

That did NOT go over well.

 

[Amethyst]

Could it have been "previously owned"? I hear that a lot. It means used.

My favorite adjective, for things being sold, is "estate." It means "Dead people's used stuff."

Also, real estate ad copy never mentions houses. It's always "homes."

It was a car company selling... well, cars... but the guy said they had 'previously inventoried' or 'previously shown' cars for sell...

 

[Nemo2]

My ex-wife was one to get caught up in that. She came home one afternoon all proud that what she bought was all on sale and that she'd "saved" at least 30% on everything. I said "How much would you have saved if you'd stayed home?"

That did NOT go over well.

Just before we left Saudi, (things were cheaper there), my late wife loaded up on 'stuff'...she came home one time and told me how much we'd 'saved'......I told her that we couldn't afford to save any more money.

 

[Texas Proud]

Could it have been "previously owned"? I hear that a lot. It means used.

My favorite adjective, for things being sold, is "estate." It means "Dead people's used stuff."

Also, real estate ad copy never mentions houses. It's always "homes."

I think it was previously inventoried.... they did not use owned as that would not have triggered my brain to say 'what?'...

 

[SecondCor521]

The weird one I saw the other day was a big (probably 8' wide by 3' tall) red banner hanging on the outside of the Sears Outlet saying "Payments of only $8.76 per month!" with a footnote about a $199 purchase price or something with the payments over 24 months or whatever.

Absolutely no mention of what the actual product for sale was.

 

[John Galt III]

'Get a free 30 day supply of max-bliss potion. Pay for shipping and handling only!!!' And of course they make their profit on the 'shipping and handling'. Product costs them $1. Actual shipping and handling costs them $3. And they charge you $9.95 for 'shipping and hnadling'. Boom : $5.95 profit per sucker.

 

[Lakewood90712]

I don't recall if it was Crazy Eddie or Mad Man Muntz who said in his commercials:
"I loose money on every thing I sell , so how do I stay in Business ? Volume ! "

 

[JoeWras]

About 10 or 15 years ago, the word "melted" was banished from all advertising copy. The password now must be "melty."

Additionally, since that word is usually used with "cheese," rarely do you find cheese to be your standard cheese. No, it is now "artisan" cheese. Which means nothing. It could still be created by huge machines. But as long as someone who could be called an "artisan" was looking over it during production, then it is artisan cheese.

 

[Chuckanut]

"You deserve it!"

 

[imoldernu]

Has anyone ever bought the second item that said "just pay separate fee"?

I'm still not clear on the answer...

 

[Amethyst]

"Chocolatey chips." I think it means "doesn't contain very much chocolate, but imitates the look and taste of chocolate."

"Crispy," rather than merely crisp.

 

[Beldar]

George Carlin's Advertising Lullaby.

I remember watching him practice this routine...

_B

 

[always_learning]

Has anyone ever bought the second item that said "just pay separate fee"?

I'm still not clear on the answer...

I did! It was over 10 years ago and the 'fee' for the second item (a small kitchen gadget ~~ think 'fancy spatula' or something similar) was $10.95. Totally not worth it.

 

[always_learning]

George Carlin's Advertising Lullaby.

I remember watching him practice this routine...

_B

Thanks for the walk down memory lane. I love(d) George Carlin.

 

[jazz4cash]

The weird one I saw the other day was a big (probably 8' wide by 3' tall) red banner hanging on the outside of the Sears Outlet saying "Payments of only $8.76 per month!" with a footnote about a $199 purchase price or something with the payments over 24 months or whatever.

Absolutely no mention of what the actual product for sale was.

Maybe it was for the store.

 

[SecondCor521]

Maybe it was for the store.