Snake oil, advertising and a bill of goods
By now it’s pretty obvious that President Donald Trump is a rare breed. He’s one of those very few people who can lie out of both sides of his mouth at the same time while tweeting 140 characters worthy of Pinocchio at his best. To top it off, he’ll spend the rest of the day denying he said any of it in the first place.
How did we get to this point? The President of the world’s most powerful nation can’t be trusted any farther than Melania could throw him. Sure he’s a politician, and lord knows most of them have been known to fib now and then, but this man is a pathological dissembler who really needs to join Liars Anonymous and get help.
Mind you, what can we expect? For years now we have been conditioned to accept a never-ending stream of advertising that, at best, flirts with falsehood and at worst is outright fiction. We are bombarded day and night on television and radio, in print, and on the internet by a continuing flow of commercials begging and prodding us to buy what we don’t need and usually can’t afford. Don’t believe me? Here’s a question.
When was the last time anyone bought a new car for the “sticker price?” It used to be that come the fall a wouldbe buyer could score a deal on that year’s model just before the next year was about to arrive on the dealer’s lot. It made sense. The dealer got to clear his inventory and the customer paid less for what was a brand new car. Today, however, every advertisement touts some sort of special deal that seems to start the day after a new model is unveiled. There are discounts for graduating students, for members of the military and even seniors. Every sale seems to come with “cash back” guarantees, “employee pricing,” or a “dealer rebate.” Why then, don’t the companies, stop lying, come clean and just drop the original price and ditch all the rebates? Simple. If they did that the consumer wouldn’t be gulled into thinking he or she is getting a deal.
One of my favourite ads recently features a nice, well-groomed, middle aged man who is talking about his inability to get a car loan. Apparently, if he is to be believed, he had a bad credit rating, no collateral, a poor paying job and probably bad breath and because of all this no bank would loan him the money he desperately needed for a new truck. Did he go out and try to correct any of those problems? No. Instead, he searched around, probably on the internet if he owned a computer, and found a company that was more than eager to advance him the cash, credit rating be damned. What the ad doesn’t go on to say is what interest rate the new financial institution offered and whether or not they would seize his first born child if he defaulted on the payments.
This sort of truth stretching is everywhere. According to one commercial, “women are amazing, strong, resilient and bold.” Forgive me ladies, but some of you are and then again some of you are ordinary, timid, unable to cope and flustered like the rest of us. One thing is certain, eating a bowl of corn or wheat flakes every morning isn’t going to change that even if you add blueberries.
The multi-billion-dollar drug industry also’ dabbles in a certain amount of fantasy as well. Each and every day we are told about the miraculous properties of hundreds of medical treatments for our ailments, from pills that prevent gas to tablets guaranteed to give you eight hours of complete rest. Modern science can ease pain, stop itching, eradicate warts and re-grow hair. At least, particularly with serious conditions, the pharmaceutical community issues advisories that warn against possible side effects that cover everything from constipation to kidney failure.
Just as our ancestors dealt with the snake oil hucksters of the last century we have to deal with the modern-day version of the con artist. The only difference is that those trying to sell us a bill of goods today are a lot more sophisticated. So, as President Trump would have said if he were around a century ago, “Step right up ladies and gentlemen and try Donald’s Magic Elixir it’s guaranteed to make America great again.”