When Little White Lies Turn Unbelieveably Blatant
Temptation can be insidious. Marketers have even been known to experience a wanton urge to inject a promotion tactic right into their product design. Like, say, double miles.
If so tempted, take a cold shower. Remain under the stream until the shock clears your head and you recall that a purchase incentive is a short-term solution to a bigger issue – for instance, that your product has no unique value proposition.
Even a clear head can be subject to temptation. Abruptly, wickedly, the thought could occur that a product inadequacy might somehow be veiled with a lie. Nothing fraudulent, mind you, just a mild stretching of the truth.
Caving to this temptation can prove equally disastrous, for two reasons.
First, when you consign your little white lie to a marketing agency, whose forte is communication embellishment, your perversion could start taking on absurd proportions. Next thing you know, you could find yourself in the embarrassing position of having either to approve an ad like the one seen here or to come clean. Who wants to fess up to an indiscretion?
So it is that Delta touts: “The first credit card that always gives you Double Miles.” It is a lie. It may have been born as a little white one, but it grew into a barefaced, boldfaced, full-color perfidy. Truth is, Delta cardholders get double miles only on certain selected categories of purchases, possibly those that do not even constitute a majority of their card usage.
A second, most egregious outcome of succumbing to this temptation is that fibbing usually precipitates failure. Today’s consumers have built-in bullshit detectors – they can recognize an untruth as clearly as if they could see your nose growing.
One wonders if future ads will want readers to believe that Delta flights are always on time, the food is always great, and the seats are always roomy.
