Un-Spun Summary:

People are consistently deceived when they purchase products that are marketed by deceptive advertising; deception continues to grow rapidly, as we see from Snake Oil to Emu Oil, and the price we pay for it increases.

Spin pervades the Political arena where voters are being manipulated by TV ads and talks to believe false ideas and claims.

Deception brings high profits when people buy products or devices that are fraudulently marketed.

Deception can even cost lives as with the case of Seville Marketing who deceptively advertised a home test for HIV that actually caused inaccurate results.

Politicians deceive us not by telling us straight lies but by giving us a false picture of facts and implied messages that create false illusions. This type of disinformation gives us wrong ideas about the candidates and their policies.

False Claims Act protects the truth in commercial advertising but still advertisers find their ways to mislead the public. Politicians have a legal right to tell anything they want including lies; the US Constitution protects their speeches.

Some warning signs to watch in the ads include messages of fear that eventually cloud our minds. “FUD” is the acronym for fear, uncertainty, and doubt that is used to instill fear in us that scares us enough to buy the product. Condoleezza Rice reminded the public of September 11 events in her speech, which helped generate a huge public support for the war in Iraq.

We need to watch out for claims that are too dramatic and that seem to be “too good” to be true.

Dangling comparatives such as “Larger”, “Better” are used to make the product more attractive to the customer but we need to be careful because they do not state what is being compared. Comparative words “Higher “and “More” create exaggerations. Superlatives such as “Most” and “Highest” can lead us into buying a product that is over priced and make wrong political decisions.

The “Pay You Tuesday” Con asks for something now without mentioning what the cost of doing it will be later. In politics, both Democrats and Republican promise certain programs but are not telling exactly what price we will have to pay in the future.

Blaming others usually occurs when a person is trying to turn the attention away from his own weaknesses. When we hear people blaming others we need to look closer at the attacker because he is likely the one to be blamed.

Some nice-sounding but vague statements that try to get us to buy certain product are warning signs of Glittering Generalities. The most popular Glittering Generality that most politicians use is their support for the “middle class”.