Pseudoscience in advertising
From RationalWiki
Pseudoscience in advertising provides a specialized outlet for exploiting "woo" and people's gullibility in order to make money.
One way or another, these all (try to) play off people's scientific illiteracy - or, worse yet, people's twisted sense that "skepticism about science" is smart - by pushing pseudoscientific buttons.
Here are a few examples that have leapt out at me lately:
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[edit] Extenze
It's supposed to, er, "make that certain part of the male anatomy larger". Why they don't say "it will give you bigger erections", I don't know. Unless that would be false advertising. Anyway, here's the woo:
- "It's not a gimmick, it's real science!"
[edit] Headon
First off, I thought he was the drummer for the Clash!. Okay, anyway, it's some sort of headache remedy you, well, slap on your forehead like you forgot you could have had a V-8. As best I can figure it, the woo is:
- Familiarity with transdermal patches, combined with utter stupidity.
[edit] Abbatoir Avacore
This is one of those things they try to sell to insecure balding men. The catch line, I poop you not, was "The cynic says, 'my hair is falling out and nothing can help'. The believer says, 'I use Abbatoir Avacore and my hair is growing back!'". The woo:
- Playing on people of faith's complete demonstrated gullibility - and hatred of science and skepticism.
[edit] Airborne
Airborne is an effervescent tablet that will "boost the immune system" and help the user fight off any number of unseen "germs". Absolutely no scientific evidence is offered by the company supporting the claim that Airborne helps users fight colds. The woo:
- Airborne was "created by a school teacher", therefore we should trust it implicitly. How dare you accuse a second grade teacher of quackery!
[edit] Zerosmoke
These nice folks sell tiny magnets one is supposed to put on each side of the flappy part of your left ear. Using this "acupressure" technique, along with a tremendous amount of will power and determination, will help you quit smoking. Of course, a tremendous amount of will power and determination will work without any magic woo magnets, too.
- There is intentional conflation of this with "acupuncture", which, while not fully understood, floats at the edge of pseudoscience because it might actually do something.
- We all know magnets are magic, so what's the problem?
| Articles in RationalWiki related to pseudo-studies | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pseudoarcheology - Pseudohistory - Pseudolaw - Pseudomathematics - Pseudoscience - Pseudoscience list - Pseudoscience in advertising - Pseudoskepticism - Pseudovitamin | ||
