Impressed as I was with the ultra-sharp picture, the thing that was most fascinating to me was my new found ability to read the fine print shown at the bottom of commercials. Many were your standard benign legal mumbo-jumbo. For example, all the great car commercials with sporty models hugging turns always have to say something about professional drivers on closed courses...yada yada (very similar to the red button with the words, "DON'T PUSH" plastered across it). By the way, don't even try to read all the legalize on car dealer commercials, it's futile without your DVR. So back to my revelation. I'm reading all this fine print when a fast food commercial airs touting a new cheap price for a particular item. The fine print states that the actual price may vary. So, they can legally advertise a $0.01 burger and charge you a buck for it. That's messed up.
About the same time I ran across this horrendous misrepresentation, I stumbled across this website: mouseprint.org Mouseprint is a consumer education site that aims to
...help educate the public about the catches or "“gotchas" in disclaimers, and to encourage advertisers to abandon the motto, "“the big print giveth, and the little print taketh away."”If you think mislabeling food prices is a crime, wait until you see some of the items catalogued here! It just goes to show that corruption does in fact extend beyond politics.
For an ethical approach to sales and marketing, check out Ryan's website.
1 comment:
This reminds me of a recent situation where MBNA/Bank of America jacked my interest rate to 25.99%. Unethical in the extreme. I love the quote you called out in your post: "The big print giveth, and the little print taketh away." Hmmm... perhaps fodder for a new post on my blog?
P.S. Thanks for the endorsement, "Rocket Scientist." I appreciate it. :-)
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