That's because advertisers use our cool cynicism against us -- we think we're being savvy by assuming that all ads exaggerate, but we still assume that's as far as it can go -- exaggeration. It's not like these people can just go out and lie right to our faces, right?

If you tell people that advertisers lie, they'll roll their eyes and say, "DUH! That's what advertising is, you naive buffoon!" But then those same people will walk out the door and buy a phone based on a "coverage map" they just saw in an ad.

5 Companies Have Gone to Court for the Right to Lie

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The big assumption we all make is that while every ad contains some bullshit, the basic facts have to be true. Like, what the product looks like and the gist of what it does. After all, there is little room to lie when your essential statement is, say, "It's a phone. You can call with it and take photos." But multiple companies have made the argument -- in court -- that not only do their ads not have to be factual, but only an idiot would think they were.

For example, when Coca-Cola was marketing their line of Vitaminwater by promising the stuff would "boost your immune system" and "help fight free radicals," someone pointed out that the stuff was effectively sugar water. Coke responded that they were completely shocked that anyone thought their drink was healthy, or in their words: "No consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking that Vitaminwater is a healthy beverage."

Via Guardian.co.uk

In their defense, it never occurred to them that any of their customers could read.

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But even if you can make that argument with a product that, to be fair, is basically Kool-Aid, how can you say the same when marketing a product specifically touting never-before-seen capabilities? Like, say, a fancy new phone where your entire campaign is based on all of the things it can do that your old phone can't? You know, like when Apple was advertising their iPhone 3G as, "Twice as fast. Half the price."