Don’t get shocked. I am not giving you ideas to be a killer. I am talking about the art of killing the information by companies.

Yesterday I was listening to a radio advertisement of an insurance product. The duration of the advertisement was 30 seconds with 6-7 seconds devoted to terms and conditions at the end. And believe me I was not able to understand a single word of it. Then what are they trying to achieve out of it? Is the information useful for customers and is it creating awareness?

I would say it is “Caveat Emptor” which means “Let the buyer beware”. It is used for the real estates law, but it is very true for our companies too. The companies make the buyers aware of possible hidden facts but the customer still remains unaware! Isn’t it contradicting? But it is a fact.

But if we think carefully, then many companies play these hiding tricks. They hide the truth by printing small unreadable text, saying fast non understandable conditional lines at the end of commercials, writing multiple pages of terms and conditions, advertising big hollow offers, selling products or offering services on phone with hidden cost, giving discounts, promotional offers etc.

This trend is not new; it has been there in the past also. For example if you see this cigarette ad:

Smoking causes diseases like throat cancer, lung cancer and many dreadful diseases. But this ad is promising longevity itself.

In this day and age, advertisements use deceptive methods like mice type, trick words, confusing colors and lies to make a profit.

Mice type, the process of using very small font size in advertisements, remains as one of the most common forms of deceptive advertisements seen. E.g. a price sign, extra cost involved, the time to avail offer, the terms and conditions, side effects of products, etc.

Colors in the background or the color of words can make an image appear very different than what the original message appears as. Companies use colors like yellow, orange, white behind other light colors which make a message very difficult to understand.

The words like natural, warranty, guarantee, healthy, pure etc. can make the customer feel good while purchasing the product, but the products actually do not contain the advertised features. Lay’s potato chips, Tropicana orange juice and Pizza Hut pizza are among the launches this year by major marketers making natural claims.

Samsung’s new LED TV ads are modified in the UK because the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has found that the terminology doesn’t comply with marketing regulations and is misleading because the display isn’t made of LEDs.

In the internet you will find people complaining about dish TV, about their fake offers, free recharge coupons, customer service. And in the ads you will find the total opposite of it, big promises and offers.

Another example I think is of KENT Water purifier. Some fake company called for the service and on the call they did not reveal their name and modified the information in such a way that you will end up calling them for servicing. But when they visited my home I saw him changing all the original parts. He was replacing the original parts with fake used ones with a similar name. How many people get fooled by them daily? Or the consumer himself is not paying attention to these facts? Whatever the truth is, the point is that we are being fooled and now the companies and the customers should start behaving responsibly and offer services by not hiding the facts.

You may have seen the following advertisement from Oracle. They claim that Advanced Data Compression for Oracle 11g cuts your data storage requirements in half. Anyone who knows anything about data compression knows that this is misleading. Sure, it’s possible that data compression could cut your data storage requirements in half. But that depends on the kind of data you have and on your environment.

The responsibility of companies does not end by simply telling the hidden facts in an noticeable way. The information should get well registered in the minds of the consumer and then the responsibility of buying should be theirs.

The various boards formed for scrutinizing the information should also focus on these aspects and make the companies follow the regulations strictly. The laws should be made more stringent and proper channels should be developed for hearing consumer complaints.

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