Psalms 15: Thou Shalt Not Lie

Unfortunately, we live in a society where lying is common and some people do it so much it seems natural. Lying has become an accepted way of life. I read somewhere that children understand the concept of lying by age four and most adults are unable to go 10 minutes without lying once. It is only reasonable that we expect businesses to lie. I believe it is unethical to advertise products as being scarce if that’s not the truth. There are numerous scriptures in the bible about lying. The ninth commandment states, “Thou Shalt not lie.” Psalms 15:1-3 says, “God expects truth to permeate every facet of our lives.” I take that to mean both our personal lives as well as our professional lives.
When it comes to advertising products, companies
have learned to be very creative in camouflaging deceit. Take Apple for example. When the company comes out with new phones by now they can forecast expected volume. However, they increase demand by only releasing a limited number of phones. I believe it is a scare tactic that they have become geniuses at generating awareness just by scaring people into believing they will be one of the first to have the new phones. The guidelines I would recommend there should be a specific number products set based on the category that states supplies are scarce when it reaches that number or falls below that specified number. More importantly, this tactic is successful only because customers like feeling special when they have something that’s limited. Maybe it has something to do with self-actualization. Who do we blame the companies, advertisers or ourselves?