A crime of deception
Allzu oft wird Sprache missbraucht, um Botschaften zu verschleiern – doch unsere Kolumnistin ist wild entschlossen, sich nicht mehr von Werbetexten täuschen zu lassen.
Today, I saw a TV commercial that got me thinking about the English language. This happens quite regularly, so I don’t know why this one surprised me. In this particular example, a popular and very muscular American football player holds up a pot of yogurt and says: “I eat the protein that comes in this yogurt.” As a viewer, I’m supposed to be impressed. The message is clear: He eats this yogurt and his biceps are as big as my thighs – so, if I want to be sporty and strong, I should eat it, too.
Something about this commercial has bothered me each time I’ve seen it. Today, I finally figured it out. The famous football player isn’t saying: “I eat this protein-rich yogurt” or “I eat this yogurt because it has all this healthy protein” – which would mean that he actually eats this yogurt. By saying “I eat the protein that comes in this yogurt,” all he’s really telling us is that he eats the kind of protein found in this product – but not necessarily the yogurt itself.
I have no idea, of course, whether or not this guy eats this yogurt. But what he says in the ad could also mean that he’s eating this same protein in other types of foods – steak, maybe (no idea, I’m not a nutrition expert). Why else would a writer go to the trouble of phrasing a slogan in such an awkward way?
Here’s another example of adspeak that deceives. My mother’s doctor told her to drink lots of cranberry juice for a chronic infection she has. I bought her a brand of juice that – in big bold letters – says on its label: “100% JUICE.” And under that, in big red letters: “CRANBERRY.” The same brand offers another product – Cranberry Juice Cocktail – which is a blend and has other ingredients in it. So, when I bought the “100% JUICE – CRANBERRY” for a dollar more, I thought I was buying 100 percent cranberry juice.
At home, I read the label more closely and realized that the product is indeed 100 percent juice, but not 100 percent cranberry juice – it’s mostly cranberry juice, but also has grape juice and apple juice in it.
This, of course, explains why the label doesn’t say “100% CRANBERRY JUICE” – which is what the label would say if the product contained only cranberry juice and nothing else. This was not a random layout choice. The phrasing and layout had been carefully chosen.
Fool me once, but not twice.
As a consumer, you have to be so careful. Listen carefully to the advertising and read what the labels actually say. How exactly are things phrased? And what is not being said? Don’t assume anything. Normally, language is used to communicate, but it’s also often used to deceive.
Caveat emptor. Even the ancient Romans knew that.