Crystal Ainardi
Eng 101
Bleck
Essay Draft 1

Spin to Un-Spun

Everyday we buy into the world of “Spin”, deceived by the media, ads, and our politics. “Spin” is another word for deception, according to the authors of the book Un-Spun finding facts in a world of [disinformation], Brooks Jackson and Kathleen Hall Jamieson. In Chapter one they explain the different ways we the public have bitten into the dishonesty being fed to us, sometimes as harmless “as a jar of beauty cream or as deadly serious as cancer.” (pviii) We need to open our eyes find the facts and read the fine print before we get caught off into the “Spin”. We the public are constantly exposed to lying and deceit that goes unacknowledged by those set to protect us and those to inform us, and no one is doing a thing about it.

More than a hundred years ago there was a salesman nicknamed “Rattlesnake King” sold a “cure all product” that he called Snake Oil Liniment. The “cure all product” turned to be an absolute fraud. In 1915 when the federal Pure Food and Drug tested the product they found it contained no snake oil as it claimed. (p4) From snake-oil, to emu-oil false advertising is typical of beauty products. Like wrinkle creams; in 2006 Jackson and Jamieson found a product called “Deception Wrinkle-Cheating Cream” which the company said was better than botox. Yet, there was no study done on this cream and no studies were done comparing it to botox. (p5) Another lie within the advertisements is some of our over the counter medications. Prescription-Strength Malarky, headache medications comparing themselves to “Prescription Strength Relief without a Prescription” which they are not when looked at in study. (p6)

Product promotion “spin” is not quite as deceptive as the political “spin” the public is exposed to. Political Snake oil George Bush promising to the public he could get us “energy independent” in the 2004 campaign, pretending to have an easy solution to a big problem. Something the advertisers and politicians have been onto for a while is how to manipulate the public with fear and insecurity. Many large companies and well- known brands have built their way to the top with their false advertising. Listerine’s sales exploded in the 1920s giving outrageous claims to cure not only bad breath, but sore throats, help prevent colds, and if rubbed on scalp could cure dandruff. (p9) Even in extreme cases commercial lying is costing the public's lives. A Canadian company was selling home HIV kits which they said were 99.4% accurate, but later when tested by the U.S centers of disease control it was found they were 59.3 inaccurate with results. There is no estimate of how many people were given false diagnosis or how many delayed treatment because of poor results (p11) The profits of disinformation is highly profitable to the unproven and un-tested, worthless weightless products that millions buy into yearly. The public buys into the insecurities expelled across these advertisements and the public gives into the products.

This is just the beginning of deception in our lives. In the 2004 campaign election’s many of the TV ads were misleading that lacked real hard evidence in the end. Accusations flew from Bush in 2004 that claimed Kerry’s tax increases would hit “900,000 small business owners.” When in fact further analysis showed the number of small business who would be affected was barely more than half the numbers the bush ad had claimed. (p12) Then again voters were deceived after seeing a Bush ad implying Kerry cuts funds for intelligence spending, which was in fact untrue. (p15) Polls showed the ads had an overall impact on the way people had voted. Movies have even deceived us to believe otherwise then the truth according to Jackson and Jamieson in a poll conducted by them; they found more than half of the public found from watching a movie that most people believed that the Bin Laden family had been allowed to leave when air flights were still closed down after September 11th. Which had been false. Everywhere you turn it is non-stop deception; political deception does not stop when the elections are over, TV, ads, posters on the lawns, internet, and constant bombardment. Jackson and Jamieson conclude the fact is, we the public as voters and consumers must learn to become more of “sticklers” and demand more respect not accept these “tall tales.” (pg 21)

Jackson and Jamieson’s book even surprised me. I was dismayed to read the dishonesty Listerine had used to get its way to be one of the top brands on the market. Yet, it made sense. Listerine sales started to explode in the 1920s with the ad’s exclaiming “Prevents colds”, “helps sore throats”, if rubbed on scalp could cure “dandruff” and cured “halitosis”. We today know this is untrue. “Mouthwashes are generally cosmetic and do not have long-lasting effect on bad breath.”(p9) This did make me think of the impact it had on the generation it influenced, our Grand-parents. This generation still swears by the product, my own grandmother always has a bottle or two in her medicine cabinet. She was fed by the ad’s this was a “cure” for her ailments, when it does nothing but cover up the smell of the breath and Listerine’s 90 year lies. The political “Spins” are no different four years later then they were when Jackson and Jamison wrote this book. The political ads blare on TV, from Obama and McCain. The latest on FactCheck.org showed another argument over taxes that were originally displayed to the public as misleading, not broken down nor explained. Just as it was when Bush and Kerry were running in 04’. The truth was there, but no one bothered looking, nor did the media care to explain. The truth is in the somewhere, but rarely are we shown the true evidence.

The fact of the matter is; the government won’t protect us, it takes months, even years before they get the smell of a false ad, and the courts rarely sue politicians because they give candidates the full benefit of “free-speech” (p22) you may ask why they don’t stop these dubious ads. We are protected somewhat with commercial advertising, but many get through to the TV anyways. As for politicians, there is no federal law requiring truth in their political ads. Why would they want to tell the truth, anyhow? The advertisement companies make millions off the public with us buying into their products, and the politicians are laughing on their way to the bank with all the votes landed on lies. They win. Just as Jackson and Jamieson have said in Chapter 1 we must learn to inform ourselves more, ask questions, and learn to read between the lines.

Jackson, Brooks, and Kathleen Hall Jamieson. Un-Spun finding facts in a world of [disinformation].New York: Random House, Inc. 2007.