Friday, March 4, 2011

Probiotics in Formula Make Babies Laugh Uncontrollably

Ignore the First Two Ingredients

Spray Your Baby's Toys with Chemicals

Sharing Towels is Gross

What do you think?

We all like to laugh at advertisements that are so ridiculous that they are funny. But are they really harmless?doesn't think so and it has launched a public service announcement on truth in advertising. The campaign is called Dressing it Up Doesn't Make it True and they've created this great television ad to go along with it.I think this is an important message. But how many companies do? It is easy to come up with a list of misleading advertisements that have "dressed up" products as something they are not. Some of these are even from companies that are members of Advertising Standards Canada.I hope that most parents are laughing instead of being convinced (consciously or unconsciously) when watching ads as ridiculous as these...Yes, babies are fussy sometimes. No, switching to formula will not magically make the witching hour go away and turn your baby into a non-stop giggling machine.Nutella would like you to believe that it is a key ingredient in a nutritious breakfast and that it is made up of "wholesome quality ingredients like hazelnuts, skim milk and a hint of delicious cocoa."They would like desperately to hide the fact that the first two ingredients are sugar and palm oil People think germs are really scary. Lysol wants to convince parents that they should spray their baby's toys with toxins. Who cares about the long-term effects of nasty toxins, if we can avoid getting a virus this week, then WIN!Why worry about the environment when you can stuff the landfill full of more disposable towels?What do you think of these ads? Do you have any favourite (or not so favourite) misleading ads? Is truth in advertising too lofty a goal?Thank you to Rebecca from A Little Bit of Momsense for suggesting a couple of the videos.