Nah, of course not. Ads are the most effective weapon used by all big industries to make us want stuff we don't need. Honesty is no consideration in the message advertisements try to communicate, and they never paint a realistic picture but instead an idealized picture of yourself they want you to associate their product with.
source: MeTV
This is a repost of a July 2018 article of mine, one I hope you'll enjoy reading and watching :-)
Ads are a bit like God: they're omnipresent, omniscient and all powerful. Ads are literally everywhere in our modern western cultures; the entire "public" domain is plastered with smiling people yelling at you what a fool you are for not having brand X yet. Colorful families enjoying the happiness you fail to achieve in your life because of the absence of brand Y in it. Super-shiny cars from brand Z without which you won't be able to celebrate your independence and freedom by exploring the world (in any terrain) or just the city.
They know your every secret wish, and for the right price they'll grant them to you. They'll even show you stuff to wish for you never thought you needed, no, craved before. They'll make you want stuff to satisfy your hidden desires and make you desire more so you'll want even more stuff. Our societies have become so decadent, our hoarding instinct so supercharged, that we even rent additional storage space to store all the extra stuff we'll never use. Until some garage-sale television show visits us and offers us a nice sum of money, so we can get new and more stuff to store away as soon as our shortened attention-spans decide we don't like the new toys anymore.
They have the power to change who you think you are. They can make you feel sick when you aren't and make you think the food they advertise is healthy when it most certainly is not. Do you know why soap and toothpaste are bubbly? It's because studies show we associate bubbles with hygiene and cleanness; they don't have any other function whatsoever. Do you believe cereals are healthy for your kids? Bad weather makes us want to stay inside instead of going out and socialize like we normally do and that weather influences us that way by making us feel a little more lonely and a little less happy. It's natural and logical to feel sadder in the winter than in the springtime; so why do so many ads for anti-depressants show people looking sadly out of a window at the grey and bad weather outside. It's because that's all of us; they want to sell that medicine to everyone.
In light of all of this I'd like to advertise the honest ads from the Cracked YouTube channel. The entire Cracked's Honest Ads Playlist is brilliant in my opinion, as they always seem to be able to strike at the heart of the lies and deceptions utilized in the product advertisements they choose to highlight. The videos have titles like"If ... Commercials Were Honest", where the product or product type is in the place of the dots. I'll leave some of my favorites here:
If Smart Watch Commercials Were Honest
Why the lottery is known as the "poor man's tax":
If The Lottery Was Honest
Last but not least is this one about credit cards; maybe the most important one they ever made!
Why Credit Cards Are A Scam - Honest Ads
Another great series in the same field of ridiculing and exposing true intents of big companies communication to us, their customers, comes from Gaming Wildlife. Their 100% Honest Series roasts Apple, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Valve, Facebook, Sony, Disney... HHere's some of my favorites from them to, starting with Apple:
If Apple Were 100% Honest With Us...
Of course the other giant doesn't fare any better, so here goes Microsoft:
If Microsoft were 100% honest with us...
Disney cannot be excluded here, for obvious reasosns (no, I'm NOT a frustrated Star Wars fan... ;-)):
If Disney Were 100% Honest With Us...
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