Badvertising 4: Warning Consumers That The Product They're Buying Is Actually In The Bag

Badvertising 3: Misdirection

In stage magic, misdirection is used to draw the audience's attention to one thing so they won't notice another, which allows the magician to perform the trick without the audience noticing how it was done. Having the audience focused on your right hand frees up your left to grab the card from up your sleeve, pull a lever, and so on.

Seems to happen a lot in the marketing and advertising of food products as well, especially candy, and specifically of the non-chocolate variety. Artificial fruit-flavored candy is my favorite, though it's always irked me how nearly all of them have something like this on the package: 






Which is true, of course. But when it's loaded with sugar, does it matter? Are we fooled? Does this kind of misdirection work? Apples are also "a fat free food," but aren't advertised as such. Are they missing the boat?

Badvertising 2: Misaligned

My friend Erin put it best:
"When did Drew grow a 'stache?"

Why didn't they match the names with the faces? Or perhaps an even better question: Why did they match up only one of the names with a face?

The names are in alphabetical order, and perhaps there is some contractual obligation to list them that way. Still, it does come off sloppy -- or a bit silly, at least.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is a good movie, btw, and just out on Blu-ray this month. You can find it here on Amazon -- or at least have a look at an embiggened version of the cover. The DVD version, released a few years back, has a slightly different cover but the same problem.