Lutz Weasel Language

Misleading terminology is often employed in advertisements to dupe the consumer into buying products that they would not otherwise. By using ambiguous and meaningless words, such as, “help” or “acts fast,” advertisements overstate the merit of a product. Such words do not give much valuable information about the product nor do they state how effective the product is compared to other similar ones. This is certainly problematic because the company is hiding the entirety of their product and the viewer, possibly a potential customer, is not fully informed about the validity of the product. To demonstrate the hollow claims that companies often make, William Lutz, an American linguist emphasizes the need to avoid falling into the trap of doublespeak, or
Just as how a weasel sucks the insides of an egg and places the hollow egg back inside the nest, advertisers also place vague words— such as “help,” “acts fast,” and “virtually”— into advertisements to dupe the consumers into believing a faulty, meaningless message. Lutz states, “Weasel words appear to say one thing when in fact they say the opposite, or nothing at all. The biggest weasel word used in advertising doublespeak is ‘help’ … the trick is that the claim that comes after the weasel word is usually so strong and so dramatic that you forget the word ‘help’ and concentrate only on the dramatic claim” (Lutz 374). As Lutz implies, diction plays an important role in the process of trying to sell a product. “Weasel words” are simple words that do not contain any significant information about the product, but are portrayed as content rich. For example, a cold medicine ad might assert, ‘helps relieve cold symptoms fast,’ but before purchasing, one must ask oneself “to what extent” (Lutz 374). The consumer must be mindful that “relieve” does not mean end or cures; they should also note the ambiguity of the