subject: The War of the Words Gone Wild [print this page] The War of the Words Gone Wild The War of the Words Gone Wild
The War of the Words
I'm sure at one point in my life I would have referred to this as an outrage, but today as I sit in this small coffee shop comfortably into my years of retirement I am not as easily provoked as I once was. Time has thought me patience I would have never imagined possible in my youth.
But it has come to a point where I feel almost harassed and putting it down in writing I hope will bring some relief. My subject today is advertising. It has reached a point where I can no longer enjoy a walk without being accosted by a billboard or flyer or radio advert. Perhaps I have merely joined the ranks of crotchety old men and as such it is my task and moral responsibility to get annoyed with everything.
Perhaps you will indulge me today and let me put the case to you for judgment. I am simply going to list my complaints regarding the hyper aggressive and even offensive methods currently in use in the advertising industry today. I will attempt to show how this not only offends my sensibilities but detracts from the mental and emotion adroitness of the younger generation as a whole.
The first point on which it will take issue is the generalizations and fast facts associated with advertising. The sheer amount of non verifiable evidence and statistics that are quoted at you from your television commercials and radio advertisements our often so distorted or wrongly applied that almost every company employing these cheep methods are guilty of false advertising.
Regarding statistics, I think it was Mark Twain who put it best and ill paraphrase "there are lies, there are big lies, then there are statistics" on the whole I think the scientific community suffers most from this exploitation of terms that once represented the language of credible fact.
Is it really the case that just representing something as it is does not get the consumer response necessary for business? If so, than it is a real shame on the part of the consumer. It is almost that he insist on a product like toothpaste not only promising to make his life happier and improving his dating game but paying his credit card bills as well!
This silliness has gotten out of hand. It is an insult to our intelligence as a country and as individuals as well. Is it not enough to walk into a shopping mall and view the dress form bedecked in the latest clothing enough to sell us what we need? Is it truly necessary that we be misled and hoodwinked at the expense of our intellectual integrity?
