Previously viewed solutions.

echoofformless

Peat Advocate & Defender Of Snails
Oct 1, 2005
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Phil Uh Del Feeya
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Based on the fun we had with the snake oil thread, I'm figuring maybe we can mention our favorite sales ploys and euphemisms.

By ploy I mean my latest favorite - the "solution." Have you noticed that everything is now being marketed as a "solution?" You now have to choose between several "solutions" when you go to buy a new stereo, computer, TV, bedsheets, tires, you name it. They are all solutions now. Sure makes you feel better when you're parting with your money. "Well at least I solved that problem..."

I also love "previously owned." Nobody used it! They just owned it before you.

I'm also a drummer in addition to being a fish geek and I always got a kick out of the way they would describe crappy entry level kits as if they were worth the money with talk of them being made of "select" hard woods. OOOOOOHHH! Select hard woods! Now that sounds fancy. Someone went out to the wood pile and personally selected these plies just for my drum kit!


Your turn!
 
this one has been around for years...


ONLY.

ONLY 19.99.

which ties into my next one.. is ANYTHING EVER an even dollar? no! because something that is 19.99, people will see the 19 before they think "one more penny and it's 20"!
 
this one has been around for years...


ONLY.

ONLY 19.99.

which ties into my next one.. is ANYTHING EVER an even dollar? no! because something that is 19.99, people will see the 19 before they think "one more penny and it's 20"!

i agree, why not the whole twenty?
 
The best advertising word is "Virtually". Will make your anything virtually spotless. But if it doesn't do it, try suing. Virtually means nothing in advertising where most people assume it means "absolutely". Yes there has been law suits and this is how I know about it....lol.
 
Based on the fun we had with the snake oil thread, I'm figuring maybe we can mention our favorite sales ploys and euphemisms.

By ploy I mean my latest favorite - the "solution." Have you noticed that everything is now being marketed as a "solution?" You now have to choose between several "solutions" when you go to buy a new stereo, computer, TV, bedsheets, tires, you name it. They are all solutions now. Sure makes you feel better when you're parting with your money. "Well at least I solved that problem..."

I also love "previously owned." Nobody used it! They just owned it before you.

I'm also a drummer in addition to being a fish geek and I always got a kick out of the way they would describe crappy entry level kits as if they were worth the money with talk of them being made of "select" hard woods. OOOOOOHHH! Select hard woods! Now that sounds fancy. Someone went out to the wood pile and personally selected these plies just for my drum kit!


Your turn!

I see most of them as marketing lingo. And they work. Framing things so they are more tasteful is done in every line of work. A boss often frames a critique so you still stay motivated while hopefully changing what you were doing wrong. A doctor frames how they suggest you lose weight instead of saying "look stupid, do you want to die?" Framing exists all around, and marketing is just another place it occurs.
 
I see most of them as marketing lingo. And they work. Framing things so they are more tasteful is done in every line of work. A boss often frames a critique so you still stay motivated while hopefully changing what you were doing wrong. A doctor frames how they suggest you lose weight instead of saying "look stupid, do you want to die?" Framing exists all around, and marketing is just another place it occurs.

Oh for sure - there's this new pile of BS that they have started throwing at people recently - the "opportunity for improvement." It's a veiled reference to what you suck at doing. Sickening and manipulative.

Being intelligent enough to notice the abundance of lies and BS of the world can be a real buzzkill.

Even worse than the 19.99 thing is gasoline: $3.09 and 9/10. And since tenths of a cent do not count anyway, they're basically lying about the price by one cent. And this is every station. Every posted price for gasoline is actually one cent higher than it says. So it's only a cent, right? Yeah to you - but to the oil company that one extra cent per gallon is a big chunk of extra money when all is said and done.

"It's like Superman III."
 
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