Around the turn of the 20th century, Gladys Babson Hannaford, nicknamed the Diamond Lady, was giving hundreds of “educational” talks on the gems every year. However, the “expert” was actually employed by an ad agency with a simple mission: get American women to crave diamonds. Businesses have long understood that in order to compete in the market, a good product might not be enough. You also need a compelling story.
As consumers, we must be aware of how marketing boardrooms twist reality if we want to make rational choices with our money. So, we looked at a few online discussions where people have been sharing the corporate myths they discovered — from hygiene to eating habits, so much of our daily life has been targeted.
#1
Breakfast being the most important meal of the day. This was made up by the Kellogg’s corporation in 1917.
polkadotdress:
Kellogg was a Seventh Day Adventist who started his company based on the dietary beliefs of his religion, particularly cereal foods as a source of healthful nutrition.
Image source: anon, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#2
Febreeze garbage cans scenters. Just empty the garbage can!
Image source: Samzy33, Toa Heftiba / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#3
Fat is fattening, most fat passes through the gut and is digsted like most other protiens. Sugar companies made it up because when something doesn’t use fat in it’s recipe people often add unnecessary amounts of sugar to make it taste better.
GoabNZ:
Industries using lots of sugar in their products: “gee obesity and heart attacks are occurring in people who consume our products. What do we do?! Oh, they tend to consume fat too? Quick, blame the fat! It’s called fat afterall, so if you avoid it you won’t get fat and die!”
And if anybody denies that, don’t forget Coca Cola paid Harvard research something like $50000 for a anti-fat study in the 70’s.
Image source: jerrythecactus, Thomas Franke / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#4
“Oxycontin is not highly addictive.” Crafted by the deplorable Sackler family and their Purdue Pharma for the sake of profit.
Image source: SebastianTombs, Nick Fancher / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#5
Those Power Balance bands that allegedly “increased sporting ability”.
miketwoalpha:
Almost everyone in 4th grade fell for this back in the day.
Image source: TeaErrors, U50Sweden / wikimedia
#6
The whole vaccines cause autism/ anti vax b******t. A doctor came up with his own vaccine and wanted to sell it, so he wrote a “paper” which was just him asking the parents of 12 autistic children if they had been vaccinated and then saying that there was a 100% correlation between ONE particular vaccine and autism. This became the basis of the whole vaccines cause autism nonsense.
Pulsar_the_Spacenerd:
Andrew Wakefield was (is) a f**king wild man. Not only did he do that, but he repeatedly refused to retract the study. All other people involved except for one rejected it.
There was also a whole drama about unnecessary colonoscopies for children with autism. I don’t know why it was involved in the “study,” but people weren’t properly informed of them and they weren’t necessary for anything.
Image source: Fenrir101, CDC / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#7
That women need to shave every single day, or even shave at all.
littlesmama12:
I shaved my legs regularly as a teenager and young adult because I thought I had to. I’ve let it go in recent years and discovered my legs are very nearly hairless naturally. So much time wasted!
Image source: blind_squash, Oleg Ivanov / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#8
That the tingly feeling from toothpaste does something other that produce an artificial tingle.
SinkTube:
At least that’s harmless. the tingly feeling from many chapsticks is caused by irritants that make your lips drier long-term.
Image source: LiveRealNow, Diana Polekhina / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#9
The food pyramid is no longer in use but bread and grain being the base of the food pyramid was due to bread companies lobbying politicians to make that happen.
Pulsar_the_Spacenerd:
There was also considerable dairy lobbying that went into it. Dairy is most certainly not a critical food group, as 70% of people can’t consume it.
Edit: Lactose intolerant people can consume dairy but often don’t due to side effects within the intestines.
Image source: PhreedomPhighter, Fellipe Ditadi / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#10
Essential oils. Companies claim they can cure/treat just about anything. Seriously, there’s oils to treat lethargy and bad luck.
anon:
It’s terrifying that companies promote consuming essential oils. They’re not meant to be eaten.
Sure, some of them can have some mild positive effects. Lavender can be calming, peppermint can be stimulating and help with headaches, eucalyptus can help with congestion, annnnd I can’t actually think of any others that do anything other than smell good.
I love diffusing very small amounts (1-2 drops in a diffuser with 2 cups of water that takes about three hours to diffuse fully). Makes the house smell nice. That’s really the main benefit….
Hot tip: they all cause bad luck because you just dropped $25 on astrology that you rub on your skin.
Image source: CaffieneShadow, Christin Hume / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#11
Whole wedding industry. Rings, dresses, huge parties.
Image source: kandorius, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#12
Mouth wash is just floor cleaner. Floor cleaner wasnt selling, so companies said peoples breath smell bad.
A_bad_poem_for_free:
And they made a rather disgusting but ingenious campaign to basically prey on people’s insecurity by saying “If you don’t know who has halitosis among your friends, it’s probably you” or “You don’t use mouthwash? your friends are probably talking about your breath behind your back”
Dirty but also genius.
Image source: anon, Towfiqu barbhuiya / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#13
Well, any cosmetic product you buy over the counter that amazingly beautiful erases crows feet or the wrinkles on your neck. There are lots of people who use Vitamin E oil, Vaseline, or cow udder cream from a feed store and it “improves the look of lines and wrinkles” too but without the huge dent in your pocket book. If you want to spend money on true wrinkle removal, visit your dermatologist.
mostlygray:
Absolutely. It’s amazing how cr**py the over the counter stuff is. You’re not getting rid of crows feet with a cream or salve from Walmart. Go with Laser or RF treatments. Use that in combination with medical grade products and you’ll definitely see results (assuming your skin can still produce collagen), age and damage can be a factor in success. Most of the before and after pics you see on the over the counter stuff is just a lighting change.
Image source: marya123mary, Karolina Grabowska / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#14
That aging is a bad thing that can be staved off or even reversed. Ridiculous, but billions of dollars per year go to that pointless hope.
Image source: DogsNotHumans, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#15
There’s an ad on daytime TV here in the UK which is pushing electric roll-out canopies for your garden. Nothing wrong with that, I’m sure they’re great. But the ad starts:
“Wouldn’t you like to enjoy your garden without the continual glare of the Sun?”
Britain is a lovely place, but “the continual glare of the Sun” is not one of it’s major problems…
Image source: moon_monkey
#16
Michelin star ratings. The Michelin Guide was started by the Michelin tire company in an attempt to get people to drive farther than they normally would to eat and, hence, wear out their tires faster.
Image source: anon, Meg von Haartman / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#17
Multi level marketing companies telling you that you are going to be rich with their fantastic business opportunity. I know it’s not 100% a myth because a few people will but the vast majority won’t.
Image source: Teaquilla, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#18
Pretty sure the diamond industry became a thing because DeBeers said so.
Image source: twilightsentinel, Robin Edqvist / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#19
That your hair needs to be shampooed every day.
Image source: anon, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#20
Dasani water in the UK was pure mineral water.
Sadly it was tap water with higher than average levels of Bromate, a potentially carcinogenic compound.
Image source: Breninnog, Ben Schumin / flickr
#21
Diamonds equal love. Greatest marketing campaign of all time.
Image source: dreadpirateroberts92, Kateryna Hliznitsova / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#22
Danone’s Activia for healthy digestion; completely made up and unsubstantiated claim that eating their yogurt would help “regulate” your digestive track. Even got Jamie Lee Curtis to spout their BS for years.
Image source: xuaereved, Kai Hendry / flickr
#23
Many feminine cleaning products are worse than useless, except when used as an insult.
anon:
Yea….if you’ve got bad smells down there that don’t go away with some warm water and a clean washcloth, go to the doctor. All women get some funky v*gina smells on occasion. Especially after an intense workout or while on your period or during periods of high stress. It’s truly nothing that you need to freak out about, just give the area a good rinse with water.
Please don’t put any type of cleaners inside the v*gina.
Image source: ThatGuyFromOhio, Redd Francisco / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#24
That dairy helps with clear skin. The Got Milk campaign has this all over the place in my school, posters saying that drinking milk makes your skin better and gives you long-lasting energy. There’s actually loads of sugar in milk, so it would probably give you a crash, and it’s a pretty well-known fact that dairy is horrendous for tons of people with acne.
Image source: anon, Curated Lifestyle / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#25
Fertilizer/lawn care product companies have long diagnosed clover as a weed, when in reality clover is a healthy part of most grassy areas. It doesn’t look perfect when combined with most varieties of grass, but clover isn’t exactly an invasive plant that destroys a healthy lawn.
Image source: windblown_knight
#26
The meat industry invented huge breakfasts to sell more meat. The dairy industry did a similar thing to sell more dairy products.
Image source: kittenkin, Olimpia Davies / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#27
Graham Crackers were originally supposed to stifle the sexual appetite and keep people from feeling lustful.
Image source: reddit6500, Sarah Sphar / flickr (not the actual photo)
#28
Not exactly a product, but in Amsterdam a nightclub was opened called Jimmy Woo. Nobody knew who the owner was, rumor was it was an ultra rich Chinese guy.
Strict door policy, invites for famous people.
Of course it was just a trick to get some mystery going, and the first two years it worked – everyone wanted to go there but you’d have to get an invite by someone already “In”.
But these gimmicks only work as long as the secret remains a secret. Once people found out it was all a staged mystery interest quickly faded.
Image source: anon, A J. / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#29
There is a long-defunct British electronics manufacturer named Matsui. I remember having a Matsui TV and VCR back in the day, IIRC it was the “own brand” used by Dixons, a defunct peddler of sh*te.
British company, but had a fake Japanese name because people associated Japanese with high quality. It was also a marketing fail because there was a Japanese general with the name Matsui who was responsible for the Nanking m******e. Then they got sued for their slogan.
What a laugh.
Image source: Eddie_Hitler, RetroAndVintageItems / etsy
#30
The idea that body hair is unhygienic/unattractive etc was created to sell hair removal products.
Image source: anon, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#31
Volkswagen for 10 years tried to say they created “Clean Diesel” with revolutionarily low emissions, turns out the put a device in all their cars called “Defeat Devicss” (as ironic as it sounds) that once discovered led to massive lawsuits and damage to the companies reputation that remains to this day.
Image source: anon
#32
Healthcare bills in the US reflect the cost of providing effective healthcare.
Well, this is more a myth to sell their product at a particular cost, but still.
Image source: EasternShade
#33
Engagement ring should be 3 months’ salary. WTAF?
Image source: manvsdog
#34
You barely need to put any toothpaste on your brush, just a pea-sized blop. The ads all show people squeezing these massive bloop logs onto their toothbrushes because it makes you run out three times as fast.
Image source: anon, Drazen Nesic / flickr (not the actual photo)
#35
Coke put Santa in a red suit to sell more coke around Christmas. Before he was always seen in a green suit. Now all of America puts Santa in a red suit and drinks coke cola.
Image source: Fangirl_Sierra
#36
Major sugar companies funded a research project at Harvard pointing to fat as the leading cause of heart disease. It was recently uncovered that the sugar companies dictated the results of the study. It has since been debunked and we now know that sugar is the cause of the world’s expanding waistlines and premature death. The body processes fat for fuel far more effectively than it does carbohydrates… especially refined sugars.
Image source: akoontz
#37
Many charlatains in the 70’s and 80’s invented the myth of backmasking. If you’re not familiar, the myth states that rock music contains subliminal messages that you can decode by playing the song backwards on your record player. Coincidentally, every one of the people advancing the theory had books, vhs tapes, t-shirts available for sale along with ministries that were grateful for your donation.
Image source: MarshallGibsonLP
#38
Protein powder? that you have to consume exactly 30g of protein every 2-3 hours and eat 10 meals a day to get jacked af…
Image source: RIPTemperr
#39
That carrots are better for your vision.
Image source: anon, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo)
#40
Guinness claims it needs to be poured to 3/4 pint, left to settle for a minute and then the final 1/4 poured into the drink. It’s entirely a myth invented to make the drink seem unique, but has basically no affect on taste. Customers often complain if their Guinness “isn’t poured right”.
Image source: TSAB9
#41
Not a myth, but a tobacco company used the second wave feminist movement in the 60’s to sell more cigarettes. Advertisements showing a strong willed woman smoking in public with slogans like “stick it to the man”, all so they can ’empower’ women and open their market to the other 50% of the population.
They also learnt that women didn’t like the cigarette packaging because it was an off green colour, rather than change the colour, they lobbied fashion groups to make it the next seasons hottest colour.
PR is really fascinating, it’s crazy to see how far companies go to sell their products.
Image source: noctis89
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