#3- Advertising Ethics

  From snake oil salesmen in the old west to modern day corporations deceit has always been a sales tactic. Dishonesty whether intentional or unintentional is a major problem for casual uninformed buyers. In some cases the damage done is minimal such as prices being slightly higher than anticipated but other times products outright lie their way into the homes of consumers. The products we use everyday are pushed constantly through all the far reaching expanses of media so it's not surprising that some information gets misconstrued every now and then.

  
I'm sure everyone remembers the humorous Subway $5 Footlong debacle. In case you don't allow me to sum it up relatively succinctly, people were angry that they were served eleven inch sandwiches when the ad promised a twelve inch. This was mildly amusing because an inch doesn't seem like that much in most cases (go ahead and giggle at that one). This seemed to be the biggest issue despite the fact that these sandwiches usually ended up being a decent bit more than five dollars after food taxes and additional items needed to make your ideal meal. Never the less multiple people sued Subway which ended up settling for half a million dollars between the plaintiffs. Despite the facts and clear research that proved Subway wasn't intentionally trying to cheat you out of an inch of bread they still had to give a pay out. Some highlights on the linked article include the fact that during a survey taken the majority of subway bread reached twelve inches or got to within 1/4 of an inch away and that all bread was made from the almost the exact same weight of dough. This was an example of bratty customers trying to cash in on something trivial.

Now lets talk about a brazen misuse of advertising to sell useless products to the unwashed masses. Goop (stylistically written as goop) is a company launched by Gwyneth Paltrow, yes that one, that uses pseudo scientific claims and bold faced lies to push health and lifestyle products to a.....special brand of individuals. Let's talk about a couple of goop products first up are the stickers that promote wellness. "The concept: Human bodies operate at an ideal energetic frequency, but everyday stresses and anxiety can throw off our internal balance, depleting our energy reserves and weakening our immune systems. Body Vibes stickers come pre-programmed to an ideal frequency, allowing them to target imbalances. While you’re wearing them—close to your heart, on your left shoulder or arm—they’ll fill in the deficiencies in your reserves, creating a calming effect, smoothing out both physical tension and anxiety. The founders, both aestheticians, also say they help clear skin by reducing inflammation and boosting cell turnover.". Needless to say this sounds a little too good to be true and evidently it is. Youtuber JonTron did a little experiment in which he tested the "resonances" of the stickers as opposed to a tuning fork of the same frequency. In theory if the frequencies matched then the items would vibrate in the same way, they did not.
I recommend watching the video for the full breakdown on goop, it gave me a good chuckle. I'll also drop a mention on a product called Psychic Vampire Repellent. It sounds completely ridiculous but is supposed to banish "psychic vampires". I believe this means people who suck out your psychic energy? Even so it's no more believable to an educated individual than an actual vampire who could read your mind.

I couldn't talk about the wild products and claims goop makes without discussing the candle above. As stated the candle is supposed to smell like.....well you can read the picture. Gwyneth is retailing these candles for $75 dollars. According to the description the candle is supposed to smell pleasant boasting a "funny, gorgeous, sexy and beautifully unexpected scent". According to YouTube reviews the candle just smells like, to put it plainly, a bad candle. No mentions of the ingredients the website promised or of the....um....inspiration for the candle. One of these things would certainly be harder to prove than the other but I digress. People spend obscene amounts of money to buy these products. I saw an E-bay listing for this candle for $250. Not to mention celebrities like Elton John are endorsing the products, he supposedly bought "a ton" of the candles for whatever reason.

  Lastly I'll send this article off with a list of ridiculous things you can buy from goop and a video about goop dealing with a lawsuit involving false advertising. Really, all I can say is that as a celebrity Paltrow has enough influence to push these products despite scientific evidence they claim to have but, in actuality do not. Paltrow has made less than intelligent comments regarding health in the past, one that lead me to believe she has no idea what skin cancer. is Although I feel as if those who buy these products probably buy into most pseudo scientific claims is it really fair to let them fall victim to predatory prices and products just because they may or may not have been born with a few less brain cells?