Weasel Words

Advertising is a way of producing commercials for products or services. In a fast paced world that we live in today, all types of information is thrown at us at an uncomfortable rate. On tablets, smartphones, computers, newspapers, radio and TV, we encounter ads for all kinds of products from a vast variety of large corporate companies almost every single day. In places like Manhattan, more specifically Times Square, there are a plethora of advertisements on grand billboards and on beautiful immersive screens that rest beside buildings. Ad’s have drastically increased since the turn of the twenty first century. Companies use clever tactics, such as weasel words and psychological tactics to differentiate them from other companies. Words like better, improved, new, fast and so forth play a deciding factor when buying a product, and it is up to the consumer to analyze the truth behind these words. In the article “With These Words I Can Sell You Anything” by William Luts, he states that “Advertisers use weasel words to appear to be making a claim for a product when in fact they are making no claim at all” (62). Companies want the consumer to feel the need to buy their products, as if it were drastically changing the person's life. Advertising is an effective method used by companies to promote their ideas through their
Mustafa centralizes in sex appeal rather than power. In the commercial, Mustafa is trying to get the viewer to buy body wash. The ad starts off with him in a bathroom in a towel saying “Hello ladies, look at your man,now back to me, now back at your man, now back to me.” Later on Mustafa magically appears on a luxurious boat, and transforms an oyster into diamonds; he follows up by saying “Anything is possible when your man smells like Old Spice and not a lady.” At the end, he surprises the viewer by randomly appearing on a horse, which adds humor to the ad making it