Puffery, Shock Ads, Subliminal Advertising, Weasel Claim

Puffery

• In everyday speech, puffery means giving too much or false praise. In the legal world, puffery is a claim or statement made for sale that is subjective rather than objective and that no “reasonable person” would take literally. Puffery is used to “puff up” a false picture of what is being talked about, and it’s most common in testimonials.
• A “puff piece” is a type of puffery used in journalism. It refers to an article or storey that gives someone too much praise and ignores or downplays evidence or opinions that are different from their own.
• Piece of puff
• A “puff piece” is a type of puffery used in journalism. It refers to an article or storey that gives someone too much praise and ignores or downplays evidence or opinions that are different from their own. Some reviews of movies, albums, or products (like a new car or TV) might be seen as “puff pieces” because the reviewer is biassed, either actually or supposedly. A “puff piece” is a review of a product, film, or event that is written by someone who likes or has a connection to that product, film, or event in some other way, like working with it or something. A big media conglomerate that owns both newspapers and record labels might tell an employee in one of its newspapers to write a review of an album coming out from the conglomerate’s record label.
• It’s not always clear how the product company or entertainment company is paying the reviewer. For example, a cash payment is a clear example. Reviewers may sometimes be the only ones who can test drive a new sports car or see a new movie before it comes out to the public. Because they had early access to the product, the reviewer may write an unfair review, either because they feel like they have to or because they are afraid that if they don’t write a “puff piece,” they will lose their preview rights in the future. When reviewers are flown to the location for the review, given fancy hotel rooms, and given catered food and drinks during the review, there is a much higher chance that bias will show up in invitation-only preview sessions. The worst cases of this happen when the company doesn’t invite reviewers to the headquarters or another logical location, but instead pays for their tickets to Hawaii or Mexico and holds the preview screening of the movie or the launch of the product there.
• Health journalism may be one area where puff pieces are useful. Because of laws against false advertising, people who sell alternative medicine might not be able to make claims. But they might be able to give journalists stories and testimonials that they can write however they want because of laws that protect press freedom. Getting health reporters to write positive reviews of a product that doesn’t work might be a good way to make money.
  

  Ads that shock

• Shock advertising, also written as Shockvertising, is a type of advertising that “intelligently, rather than accidentally, shocks and offends its audience by breaking social norms and personal ideals.” This is when “graphic imagery and blunt slogans are used to highlight” a public policy issue, a good or service in advertising or public relations. A main goal of shock advertising is to stand out from other ads and get people’s attention, which can then be used to promote a brand or raise awareness about a health problem, public service issue, or cause (e.g., urging drivers to use their seatbelts, promoting STD prevention, bringing awareness of racism and other injustices, or discouraging smoking among teens).
• A lot of the time, this kind of advertising is upsetting, rude, explicit, and controversial. It may also contain strong political messages that challenge people’s normal ideas about how society works. Using fear and scare tactics to sell a product or send a public service announcement, this kind of advertising can not only offend but also scare people. It has a “high impact.” It is called “shockvertising” in the advertising business when ads include scary, gross, or offensive content. The Italian clothing company Benetton, which made the United Colors of Benetton line and ads in the late 1980s, are often seen as the first to use this style.
• There are many reasons why shock ads can be shocking and offensive, and there are many ways that they can break social, religious, and political norms. A breach of tradition, law, or practise can include sexual references or obscenity that are lewd or offensive, a breach of social or moral code through vulgarity, brutality, nudity, faeces, or profanity, or the showing of images or words that are horrifying, frightening, or offensive (e.g., gruesome or revolting scenes, or violence). Others might find certain ads shocking, controversial, or offensive not because of how they say what they’re saying, but because the products being advertised are “unmentionables” and shouldn’t be shown or talked about in public. Some examples of these “unmentionables” are birth control, cigarettes, and feminine hygiene products. But there are some goods, services, or messages that people might find shocking or offensive. Some examples of controversial and offensive advertising are those for weight loss programmes, sexual or gender-related products, funeral homes, groups that want less gun control, and casinos that support and promote gambling. This is because the ads are selling these things or sending these messages. As with French Connection’s “fcuk” campaign, shocking advertising content may also use bad or inappropriate language.
• Advertisers, psychiatrists, and social scientists have long argued about how well shock advertising works. Some scientists say that ads that are shocking make people feel stronger emotions. One result suggests that “shocking content in an advertisement significantly increases attention, improves memory, and has a positive effect on behaviour.” Another finding from the same study is that people are more likely to remember ads that are shocking than ads that are not shocking. Shock advertising could also mean using humour, sex, or fear to get people to feel something. For a long time, humour has been the most common way to communicate in advertising, and people who work in the field say it’s also the most effective.
• The theory of selective perception could also be used to explain how shock advertising works. Individuals choose, organise, and judge stimuli from the outside world in order to create meaningful experiences for themselves. This is called selective perception. This means that people pay attention to some parts of their environment more than others. Without realising it, the consumer picks and chooses what information to pay attention to based on different perceptual filters that are shaped by the consumer’s past experiences. This type of filter is shown by perceptual defence. People tend to defend themselves against ideas, things, or situations that they think are dangerous. This is called perceptual defence. In other words, if a customer finds a certain type of advertising content scary or upsetting, that message will be blocked. An example of this would be a heavy smoker who might block out a picture of a lung cancer patient because they find it upsetting and uncomfortable.
• Advertising that isn’t seen
• A subliminal message is a signal or message that is meant to be heard or seen below the level of normal perception. For instance, the conscious mind might not be able to hear it, but the unconscious or deeper mind might. It could also be a brief image that is not seen or heard by the conscious mind, but seen or heard by the unconscious mind. This definition makes the mistake of separating the conscious and unconscious, when in reality the subliminal message (sound or image) is picked up by deeper parts of what is one mind that is fully integrated.
• It has been said many times in everyday life that subliminal techniques are used for propaganda and advertising (e.g. party political broadcasts).
• The 1957 book The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard made the phrase “subliminal message” more well-known. This book told about a study that looked into movie theatres that were said to have used subliminal messages to boost sales at their concession stands. That being said, the study’s author, James Vicary, later admitted that the study was fake.
• One type of unconscious cognition is subliminal perception or cognition. Other types of unconscious cognition include paying attention to one signal in a noisy environment while keeping track of other signals (like one voice out of many in a crowded room) and tasks that are done automatically (e.g. driving a car).
• In all of these situations, researchers have looked into how much of the unattended or unconscious signal or message is picked up (unconsciously). In other words, is the whole message picked up and fully understood, or maybe just the main and simpler parts? There are at least two ways to look at this. One of them says that we can only pick up on the simplest parts of unconscious signals. However, please keep in mind that most research has only looked at the simplest parts of cognition (rather than testing for complete comprehension). The second school of thought says that unconscious thought is all-encompassing and that we perceive a lot more than we can say.
• A lot of different kinds of research have been done on subliminal perception. For instance, whether patients who have been anaesthetized are completely unaware even though they seem to be asleep or unconscious. Patients say they don’t remember anything about what happened while they were asleep, but other tests that look at what they can remember show that information is taken in without them being aware of it.
• In the same way, research on people who have neurological damage has shown that even if they say they can’t see certain things, they still respond to them based on the information they get from them. For instance, people who have the condition called blindsight may not be aware that they are receiving information in a part of their visual field that they think is damaged.
  

  Advertising with Hidden Messages

• Putting “hidden” messages into movies and TV shows is a type of subliminal messaging that many people believe in. The idea of “moving pictures” uses persistence of vision to make a series of images shown at 23 to 30 frames per second look like they are moving. The common theory of subliminal messages says that commands can be added to this sequence at a rate of about 1 frame every 25 seconds (or roughly 1 frame per second). The hidden command in a single frame will flash across the screen so quickly that it can’t be seen consciously. However, the command is said to appeal to the viewer’s subconscious mind and have an effect on their behaviour that can be measured.
• It’s not clear if subliminal messages are commonly used to influence large groups of people, like audiences. There is no evidence that the technology has been used on a large group of people in a serious or long-term way. There were a lot of reports in 1957 that people in a movie theatre in New Jersey had been told through subliminal messages to drink more Coca-Cola and eat more popcorn. These reports were almost certainly not true. The general opinion among marketing experts right now is that subliminal advertising doesn’t work. Some do this because they think it doesn’t work, but most do it because they know it would be bad for their reputation if people found out they were using it. Because it’s unethical, a lot of people don’t want to use it in marketing campaigns.
• Claim by Weasel
• A weasel word, also known as an anonymous authority, is a slang term for words and phrases that are meant to make it seem like someone said something specific and important when they really only made a claim that isn’t clear. “Some people say,” “most people think,” and “researchers believe” are all examples. If someone questions your statement, using weasel words might let you say it didn’t mean anything specific in the first place, so you can later say it didn’t mean anything specific. Weasel words can be used to trick people, and they are also sometimes used in politics and advertising to hide a biassed view.
• Weasel words can make a biassed or otherwise controversial statement sound less strong. This is shown by words like “somewhat” or “in most respects,” which make a sentence less clear than it would be without them.
• Forms
• A study of Wikipedia from 2009 found that most weasel words could be put into three main groups:
• Phrases that aren’t clear about numbers, like “some people,” “experts,” “many,” and “evidence suggests”
• The passive voice is used to avoid naming a source (for example, “it is said”).
• Adverbs that make something weaker, like “often” and “probably”
• These other words may also be used as weasels:
• Statements that do not follow
• Use of euphemisms that aren’t clear or precise
• Use of grammar tools like qualifiers and the subjunctive mood glitzy words or broad statements