The document discusses various examples of deceptive, misleading, and harmful advertising techniques throughout history. It provides cases where companies used mock-ups and simulations to exaggerate product qualities, including using Plexiglas coated in sand to simulate a shaving product and marbles to keep soup ingredients suspended. It also discusses lawsuits around health claims of food products and regulations on tobacco advertising. Finally, it touches on disguised ads and native advertising that masquerade content to seem like news or information rather than paid advertisements.

1. Deceptive Advertising

2. Mock-Ups, Demonstrations, & Simulations
Rapid Shave (early 1960s)
The so-called sandpaper was actually a
piece of Plexiglas on which sand had
been sprinkled, making it easy to
remove the sand.
Campbell’s
Soup (1968)
Clear marbles
were placed in
the bottoms of
the bowls and
cups, helping the
vegetables stay
near the top and
show up clearly in
the ads.

3. Full Disclosure
A class-action lawsuit against McDonald’s claimed:
“the company’s approach to advertising highly
processed food caused obesity and other problems,
including hypertension and diabetes.” A U.S.
District Judge dismissed the case, stating, “If a
person knows or should know that eating copious
orders of supersized McDonald’s products is
unhealthy and may result in weight gain, it is not
the place of the law to protect them from their
own excesses.”
In response to the negative publicity, McDonald’s
now offers nutritional information in its restaurants
and online.

4. False Advertising
Colgate (2012)
Claimed their Optic White toothpaste had the
same whitening ingredient as strips.
The National Advertising Division (NAD)
“concluded that the advertiser’s evidence was
insufficiently reliable to support the express
claim ‘Same Whitening Ingredient as Strips.’”
NAD recommended that the claims be
discontinued.
https://web.archive.org/web/20150914160703/http://www.asrcreviews.org/2014/07/nad-refers-advertising-from-colgate-to-
ftc-for-further-review/

5. Misleading Advertising
Gerber (2014)
In its ads for Gerber Good Start Gentle, the company
states, “You want your baby to have your smile, your
eyes… not your allergies. Gerber Good Start Gentle [is]
easy to digest and may also provide protective benefits
for your baby.” The FTC says Gerber was making a play
on the word “qualified” to mislead consumers about the
FDA’s real assessment. The FDA said the relationship
between Gerber’s formula and reduced risk of atopic
dermatitis was “uncertain” because there was “little
scientific evidence” to support it.

6. Harmful Advertising
“If it’s legal to sell it, it’s okay to advertise it.”
The FTC regulates tobacco advertising.
1. Famous people cannot be used to endorse
tobacco.
2. Claims cannot be made about the benefits of
smoking.
3. There is no tobacco advertising on TV and all
other ads must carry serious warnings about the
health problems the products may cause.
Individuals who work in ad agencies are typically given
the opportunity to decline to work on tobacco and
alcohol accounts.

7. Disguised Ads & Native Advertising
“Ads that purport to be
something else—a letter that
looks like it is from the
government, an ad in a
newspaper or magazine that
masquerades as news, or
nowadays a blog or website
that is packed with ads—are
familiar techniques in
contemporary marketing and
advertising.”
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/221968