Overused/Misleading Advertising Buzzwords

[orcus116]

When it comes to commercials nothing seems more amusing than seeing companies, especially ones with clearly inferior products like fast food, attempt to jazz up a new or updated product with a hip buzzword. They're usually the type of words that you hear all of the time and take for granted while not really knowing what they mean other than they're good because you've heard about them so much. For example I just saw a new Wendy's commercial proclaiming some new sandwich with bacon (it's a great food but advertising it on stuff in a boasting manner is embarrassing), and artisan bread with asiago cheese. I love the last one because it hits on artisan, with the assumption of better quality even though it's just Wendy's, and asiago, a fancy sounding cheese even though it's pretty common place. The term Angus beef comes up a lot to which I'm pretty sure has nothing to do with quality although it sounds it. I even saw another commercial boasting that it's beef was "100% pure USDA grade beef". It didn't give a grade or anything and since pretty much all beef is USDA graded I had no idea what they were getting at. It'd be like a movie boasting "100% MPAA rated!" or some nonsense.

So any others you guys have caught recently? I know I've pretty much only talked about food but it seems to be the one area that's so easy to con consumers into thinking they're getting something special by just delivering a regular product.

[ytserush]

Most words that are used in commercials.

I'd name some, but I tend to tune out most of them since they're commercials

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

Isn't there a rumour that McDonalds buys it's beef from a company called "100% beef" so they can say it is 100% beef.

[axeman90210]

Every time it's touted that Miller Lite is "Triple Hops Brewed", I kill a kitten.

[orcus116]

Yeah that one is really bad. I just remember Applewood smoked bacon that was a big for awhile.

[GuineaPig]

Isn't there a rumour that McDonalds buys it's beef from a company called "100% beef" so they can say it is 100% beef.

Urban legend.

McDonalds' beef is actually beef.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

^ Ahh okay.

Yeah that one is really bad. I just remember Applewood smoked bacon that was a big for awhile.

I find it still is. Still see that in lots of commercials.

[slycordinator]

Isn't there a rumour that McDonalds buys it's beef from a company called "100% beef" so they can say it is 100% beef.

This is like saying that the vegetarians that sued them for using beef tallow in their fries that were claimed to be only cooked in vegetable oil couldn't have done so if they bought the tallow from a company called "100% vegetarian supplies."

It doesn't matter what company you buy the stuff from. If it isn't beef and you knowingly claim it to be, you have committed fraud.

Oh and with beef, Angus is just a breed of cattle. The whole Certified Angus thing was created to make people think that it was preferable to other breeds.

And imo, in commercials (especially infomercials) the most overused phrase is that "This is a $[X] value that we are giving you for $[Y]." Bullshit. If the items really were worth the higher amount, you'd sell them for that...

[lonestar]

Isn't there a rumour that McDonalds buys it's beef from a company called "100% beef" so they can say it is 100% beef.

This is like saying that the vegetarians that sued them for using beef tallow in their fries that were claimed to be only cooked in vegetable oil couldn't have done so if they bought the tallow from a company called "100% vegetarian supplies."

It doesn't matter what company you buy the stuff from. If it isn't beef and you knowingly claim it to be, you have committed fraud.

Oh and with beef, Angus is just a breed of cattle. The whole Certified Angus thing was created to make people think that it was preferable to other breeds.

Certified Angus Beef is actually a grading standard, selecting certain beef  that meet its requirements for marbling and aging.  It's quality usually ranges between USDA choice and USDA prime.  There has been some bastardization of the term though, so always look for the CAB logo, whenseen, I guarantee you it is killer beef, I have worked in two steakhouses where it was the standard.



If it doesn't have this logo, and they say it's Certified Angus, they are fucking lying and should be castrated on scene immediatly.

[slycordinator]

This is true. Although I think it's bullshit that even if you bought Certified Angus Beef, you wouldn't be allowed to advertise it as such unless your restaurant were licensed to do so, meaning that you'd have to pay them for using the term.

But a lot of places don't use Certified Angus and just advertise it as plain Angus. And this can make people think Angus in general is better.

[lonestar]

True, people should just ask for the grade. No matter the advertising, a cow has to be graded by law.  Buy choice, and you're getting a good slab of meat.  If you're lucky and rich, buy prime.

Just found this chart real quick, describes it pretty good...

Standard and select is what most grocery stores sell.  Choice and prime is what quality restaurants serve.  The commercial grade is for schools and hospitals and such.  Utility is for canned shit and prisons.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

I don't know why, but I suddenly pictured a bunch of cows insulting each other by calling each other "utility cows".

[orcus116]

"100% white breast meat" is another one I've seen, though I'm fairly sure dark meat is a lot more flavorful. I've seen family members shun the dark meat at Thanksgiving because they have this preconceived notion that it's garbage meat.

[lonestar]

I don't know why, but I suddenly pictured a bunch of cows insulting each other by calling each other "utility cows".

  That sounds so Far Side-ish.

[BlobVanDam]

"100% white breast meat" is another one I've seen, though I'm fairly sure dark meat is a lot more flavorful. I've seen family members shun the dark meat at Thanksgiving because they have this preconceived notion that it's garbage meat.

It's not a preconceived notion. To me the light meat tastes a lot better. Maybe it's just personal preference? Most people I know don't seem to really care which they get.

One bit of advertising I always laugh at is when I see computer ads that state "onboard graphics" in the list of features as if it's a good thing. I'm just imagining the kind of uninformed person that would actually read that and think "wow, but this one's got onboard graphics! Let's get that one!"

[Super Dude]

Whoops, way more off-topic than I thought. That's why you should read threads completely before posting. My bad.

[orcus116]

Yeah that has really got to stop.

Another one that has bugged me for awhile, but mainly for how annoying the commercials are, is UPS trying to make the word logistics into something we're supposed to care about. I can't think of many things more confusing than trying to make a sterile business term into something sexy sounding.

[King Postwhore]

Every time it's touted that Miller Lite is "Triple Hops Brewed", I kill a kitten.

Or great tasting lite beer.  There is no such thing.

[orcus116]

You guys remember Drinkability?

[King Postwhore]

You guys remember Drinkability?

That one drives me nuts.  They mean guzzlebility.

[slycordinator]

It's not a preconceived notion. To me the light meat tastes a lot better. Maybe it's just personal preference? Most people I know don't seem to really care which they get.

A lot of people shun dark meat because they think that things that contain fat are bad for you, forgetting that while dark meat has more fat than white, it also has a larger amount of nutrients in general. And so people advertise "100% white meat" because they're catering to those people.

And having worked in the movie theater business over the years, I hate phrases like "From the studio/producers that brought you [X]." Those people have a pretty small impact on the content of a movie. Although, the producers would have more of an impact than the studio but both are very small compared to actual movie makers like writers and directors.

And as someone with a dairy allergy, I think it's messed up that stuff can be advertised as "non-dairy" despite containing milk protein (milk-derived casein is in pretty much every commercial non-dairy creamer)...

[antigoon]

Miller Lite has another one...they have a name for that spiral neck on their bottle. Also, 'chipotle' has been one of those buzz words for a few years now with the success of the chain restaurant.

fake edit: I love dark meat 

[rumborak]

You guys remember Drinkability?

Which was always inversely correlated with flavor, yeah.

Every time I see Angus certified I have the image of them playing the cows some AC/DC.

Not so much a buzzword, but it always annoys me when car commercials have the "Professional driver on closed course. Do not attempt." in there.

rumborak

[MasterShakezula]

Whenever I see Angus, I laugh my ass off. 

[rumborak]

Many many ads have the "compared to WHAT?" problem. So, they will use all kinds of comparative adjectives with percentage ("50% larger penis"), but never say compared to whom or what. Compared to the guy with the smallest penis on record? I'm sure it is 50% bigger than that!

A similar aspect is the artificial diversification of products. Look at toothpaste, and how many there are from the same brand. So, when I buy the whitening one, does that mean it's not as good at preventing cavities as the specifically-cavity-preventing one?

rumborak

[slycordinator]

The same thing happened with Diet Dr Pepper ads. At one time they modified the formula to more closely resemble the taste of Dr Pepper. So they ran ads with "More like regular Dr Pepper" in the ads. But they kept that slogan for something like 15 years later at which point you're asking "More than what?!"

[rumborak]

The Before and After pictures in ads are also usually more a guide to good photography. Before: Frown, bad lighting, bad angle and high contrast. After: Smile, good light, angle and skin smoother.

rumborak

[BlobVanDam]

The Before and After pictures in ads are also usually more a guide to good photography. Before: Frown, bad lighting, bad angle and high contrast. After: Smile, good light, angle and skin smoother.

rumborak

I also find they're a good guide to Photoshopping, as they sometimes use the exact same basis photo for the before and after. I've noticed it on teeth whitening commercials where it's the same photo, but they just brighten up the teeth with Photoshop instead of even pretending to do it legitimately.

That also reminds me of the before and after shots for weight loss methods, where the person is wearing the exact same clothes.
If you lost that much weight, why are you still wearing the same clothes? Or did you go out and buy a new wardrobe of the exact same clothes in smaller sizes? Do they think consumers are that stupid that they'd get confused if the person was wearing different clothes?!

[Ħ]

Yeah, it's hard to find good before/after pictures where the lighting/skin color/clothing is exactly the same so whoever it is that made the picture can show you exactly what changed.

If you look at any pictures of guys that did a work out routine, like P90X or something, the guy is really white in the before picture and really tan in the after picture.

[Super Dude]

I hate greenwashing. I know it's not totally related but whatever.

[YtseBitsySpider]

the coors light ones bug me...when did "cold" become a flavor.

And one of the other beer companies made fun of them for it...I forget who.

[skydivingninja]

It was Mike's Hard Lemonade.

"Wanna know how I know my drink is cold?"
*puts MHL up to friend's face*
"AAAAHHHH!"
"Yep, its cold."

Brilliant. 

[King Postwhore]

Frost brewed. So my beer is colder because of frost?  Silly.

Why do I need a blue color to appear on the label to tell me my beer is cold?

[Chino]

The word 'sale' is used far too often in advertising.

[antigoon]

Frost brewed. So my beer is colder because of frost?  Silly.

Why do I need a blue color to appear on the label to tell me my beer is cold?

You need it to tell you when it's SUPER COLD! I swear, those brewing companies insult the intelligence of their consumers with that shit.