Avery

Tanner Avery

1310 SEC055 - Rhetoric and Writing I

Professor Rapparlie

23 November 2014

Weasel Words: Uncovering Advertising Ploys

The goal of every business is to make profit. This profit earned by these

companies is at the expense of the consumer. The product may be beneficial to the

consumer but that is not always the case. Producers will always act in personal

interest, convincing shoppers that their product is a necessity. The tactics used

today by advertising companies focus on promoting the product by demonstrating

its key features, while maintaining a level of vagueness to maximize the ads

effectiveness. In an ad published by the corporation BSN, they use ambiguous

advertising words, color manipulation, athlete endorsement, misleading

information, and fact manipulation to sell a pre-workout igniter called N.O.-XPLODE.

The ad was printed in a muscle building/body builder magazine. Based on William

Lutz article With These Words, I Can Sell You Anything, we can evaluate the claims

BSN makes and whether or not the ad is trust worthy.

Words are often used in ads to mislead consumers; by deceiving them into

believing the product will undoubtedly do what the ad says it will do (Lutz 207). In

this ad by BSN, an all-capital title reads “PUSH”; underneath it finishes “your limits.

Then push further.” This is a clever tactic used by advertising agencies. They simply

make a claim, push further than ever before, while not elaborating how much

further (Lutz 208). This gives the impression that the product promises results, but

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in reality BSN never claims just how far their pre-workout will allow your muscles

to grow. In fact they don’t mention once in their entire ad what the product actually

does. Not once does it say, “this product will help to build muscles”, the ad simply

leaves it to the consumer to figure out what the product does. Aside from being in a

workout magazine and the man lifting weights in the picture, if an individual had no

prior knowledge on what a pre-workout is, they would have no way of finding that

out from the ad encouraging people to buy it. The ad claims their product allows for

“explosive energy, enhanced endurance, and maximum performance”, these claims

are so general they could fit most consumable products. The ad never specifies how

much energy, endurance, or performance the pre-workout will allow for. These

assertions are so broad that “explosive energy, enhanced endurance, and maximum

performance” could be used in an ad for coffee, spinach, or even an Under Armour

commercial. Broad statements protect companies from lawsuits, but can also serve

as a way to make a product seem like something it is not (Lutz 216). An ad like this

is a prime example of something known as “stretching the truth”, where a claim has

not yet crossed the line into a blatant lie, but still has not presented all of the facts to

make it a truth (Lutz 213). Gray areas like this between the truth and a lie is where

most ads fall.

The ad itself is covered in grey colors, except for a few specific things

illuminated with color. The centerpiece of the ad is the product container itself,

where its dominant colors are red and yellow. The same red and yellow theme is

constant throughout the ad, as we can see a bold red title, and an entirely red weight

being lifted by a completely grey man. Red and yellow have long been used together

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in ads. Yellow is an attention getting color and draws eyes towards it, while red is

“doer” color, encouraging the visual audience to do something about a situation. It

also stimulates the part of our brain that feels hunger, choosing red for the container

acts as a way to reinforce the idea that this product will taste good, which is a

common problem with pre-workout powders. Color is used even further to

emphasize the man’s strength. The color has been left out of his body, making him

appear black and white, except for one object. The man is holding large free weights

with one hand; the weights have been changed to red. Along with the color

manipulation the man is looking forward and slightly up, towards the product being

sold. The significance of what seems like a minor adjustment is actually very

important but easily forgotten. Because the man is looking at the product, and color

of the weight is red, the ad makes the connection between the man’s abilities and

the product they’re selling. By reinforcing the idea that the man can’t lift without the

pre-workout igniter, consumers are more likely to see the ad as credible because

someone else has had success with the product.

Advertisers will even seek out well-known figures, to pay them to support

their product. These figure are generally athletes, or famous celebrities who are

easily recognized, and in many occasions are admired by public opinion. Ryan

Hughes, “a fitness model, personal trainer and was one of the first two competitors

to earn a pro card,” was recruited to be the model in this ad (Team BSN®). There is

no question that Ryan Hughes is extremely toned, and that his muscles are well

defined, reinforcing his credibility with visual ethos. Nonetheless this ethos the ad

suggests is only credible in the sense that he strong, there is no evidence to support

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that he even used N.O.-XPLODE Pre-Workout Igniter to achieve his results. Looking

closely at the ads fine print, as well as BSN’s sponsored web page for Ryan Hughes,

we find that there is no evidence in which Ryan says that he endorses the product.

In fact the exact opposite happens, we find that the only endorsement is by BSN

(Team BSN®). They are endorsing Ryan and what he does, but in no place does Ryan

Hughes say that he uses a single product made by BSN.

The ads careful layout, its color emphasis, and the word choice all tactfully

hide one important piece of information… The disclaimer. It hiding in the lower left

hand corner, under the sea of colorful words hoping they’d distract consumers from

looking at the government mandated disclaimer. In this corner is a box standing

exactly .2cm tall, and inside this miniscule box reads the words “these statements

have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.” Fitness products

are often times not approved by the FDA, but are still allowed to be sold to

consumers. Many fitness corporations will not even try to get FDA approved, either

because they know they will get denied, or because the policies of the FDA on

workout products are more lenient. In order to be FDA approved all claims must be

able to be proven true in every aspect. The lack of an FDA evaluation crumbles any

doubt away that the ad has not maintained its ethos. By making claims in an

advertisement and then by ending on a note that there was not a FDA evaluation,

meaning that no one outside of the private interests of the MSN ever made sure that

those claims were in fact truth.

Businesses will always act in self-interest, hoping to make themselves look

good, and hopefully better than their competitor. It is in the best interest of

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companies to maintain vagueness, as competitors will be able to expose their

fraudulence if claims are too specific. An art has developed in advertising agencies,

where specialists get paid to come up with supporting, sometimes misleading

evidence to use in ads, but while still maintaining a loop hole through which they

may exit in case of a indictments. Ads like this one published by BSN are

misrepresentative, and cleverly try to mask the truth with colorful designs, and

strategic layout. Advertising agencies are hoping for an unobservant audience, one

that won’t notice the blatant lies, and half-truths littered through out the ad. So next

time before you start getting excited about the next big miracle drug, or a fat

burning McDonalds hamburger, look a little closer, you might just find the thing

those companies spent millions to hide from you.

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Bibliography

Lutz, William. "With These Words, I Can Sell You Anything." Language Acts: Rhetoric and Writing I : Academic Reading and Analytical Writing. Southlake, TX: Fountainhead, 2014. Print.

"Team BSN® - Ryan Hughes - IFBB Men's Physique Competitor." Ryan Hughes. Web. 23 Nov. 2014. <http://www.gobsn.com/athlete/ryan_hughes.html>.

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