Be Aware of Advertisements

By James Mendez

University of North Texas

Mayborn School of Journalism

Over the years we have all witnessed what we may have perceived as being “false advertising”. These potentially misleading ad’s have been the topic of many conversations and have even lead to a case in court. Let’s take a look at a few of the companies that have been accused of false advertising.

Let's start with a somewhat comical example. We have all seen a fast food advertisement and said to ourselves, "It definitely does not look like that when i order it." Burger King is definitely one of those restaurants. 

Picture Via Oddee

While they advertise a beautiful handcrafted cheeseburger, what you actually get is no where near what the "billboard burger" looks like. While Burger King has not been taken to court for their perceived false advertising, there have been companies who have.

Tobacco companies have always been accused of false advertising. The product they sell has and always will be "potentially" harmful and therefore means that the company that promotes them needs an excuse why they are not harmful. This situation makes for an awesome example of misleading advertisements. 

Photo Via Good.is

While the company knows that cigarettes are not good for your health, they now that people are willing to buy them despite the risk and therefore do everything they can to promote their product. Despite all of the lawsuits, tobacco companies still are able to print ad's that falsely adversities their product. They were even forced to change the name of their product due to false advertising.

Photo Via Fast Company

These two examples show exactly how companies are able to get away with misleading and false advertising. As consumers we must always remain aware of exactly what we are looking at. As sad as it is, companies will continue to advertise their products in order to sell as much as possible. While the FDA does as much as it can, false advertisements still reach consumers. With that being said, we, as consumers, must be conscious to what we are seeing so that we do not become victims of misleading ad's.