Advertising Tricks of the Trade

How & why buyers are being fooled

This picture depicts the advertising techniques pedigree cat breeders use to show online the buyers, the kitty is a teacup persian.

First of all we do not know how old this kitten is. It could be 8 weeks old & placed next to a can of soda. If you look closely you will see the can of soda is closest to the camera [image A], in front of the kitten. Then the kitten is placed in the background, next to the wall [image B]. In artist terms the kitten is placed in the perspective point, which means the background. The kitten is also placed in the crack of a wall. The very positioning of this kitten closest to the horizon point makes the kitten smaller then it is and the can larger.

But the breeder could say its 4 months old and still so tiny. The breeder can change the birth date of the registration papers themselves all to decieve the buyers to make the buyers believe its a teacup persian.

After all this "teacup" persian brings in the bucks, [like between $2,000.00-$6,000.00 just for one kitten], so there is a great incentive for the cat dealer/seller to go to the deceptive measures just to fool the buyers, online or in person.

Therefore creating an illusion to make the buyer believe its a "teacup" persian, when infact it may not be a teacup at all, but just a regular sized small persian.

No one for sure will ever know if it is a teacup persian until its fully grown. And some persians take up to 2-5 years to fully mature. Teacup Persian Cattery Info http://teacup-persian-cattery.info

Appeal to Emotion

Is intended to tug at our heartstrings attempts to evoke an emotional response to convince the buyer & at the same time defeat our common sense, twist our thinking and control our behavior.

Appeal to Novelty

(Appeal to the New) An Appeal to Novelty is a fallacy that assumes the newness of a concept or product makes it better

Appeal to Ignorance

is when one cites lack of evidence against or for. Example is displaying this image of a kitten next to a can of soda to convince the buyers how small this kitten is.

A major element of advertising are the words used to attract the reader's attention, describe the product, and persuade the reader to buy.

However, the way advertising can use words can often be described as less than ethical. Although it is illegal for advertising to lie, the way it can tell the truth, through the use of connotations, fuzzy rather than concrete words, logical fallacies, and careful choice of language roots, creates illusions, delusions, and the belief that ads are saying one thing when in fact they are saying something totally different, if indeed they are saying anything at all.

This is neither good nor bad; it is advertising doing its job, selling products, under extreme restrictions in time, space, and lack of immediacy.

However, knowing how advertising uses language makes it possible for the average consumer to make better, more informed, purchase decisions.

Teacup Persian Cattery Info 2/5/2008