Misleading but not technically false advertising
I recently posted on the deceitful practices some advertisers adopt in: http://kallahmagazine.blogspot.com/2009/05/ranting-why-people-treat-advertising.html
Today I heard of another couple of tricks. I spoke with someone who was approached by the latest addition to advertising media in the area. He insisted he never agreed to be in but only sent in his ad design because the person asked him to do in order to show him "how it would look" in the magazine. But the publisher went ahead and not only inserted the ad but sent him a bill for running the ad based on a commitment for a 10 time run. On top of that the advertiser in question was given the distinct impression that 20,000 copies of this magazine are distributed. I was incredulous because I had spoken to this person who admitted that he only prints 500 to 1000 copies and does not lie to advertisers about the circulation. Well, to prove his point, the advertiser forwarded the email he received. I quote it below with the identifying names and prices removed:
"I am proud to let you know we have doubled in size since the last issue.. . .
I hope you are now ready to move forward. Its [sic] only $--to get listed and gets distributed amongst 20,000 affluent families here in the 5 Towns."
Very clever sneaky manipulation of the numbers, don't you think? If I would send out similar letters, I could claim that Kallah Magazine gets distributed among 100,000 affluent families in the 5 Towns, Queens, Flatbush, Borough Park, and Teaneck (not to mention the occasional foray into Baltimore and Passaic). But I don't do that, and I also don't claim to be the #1 anything even though Kallahmagazine.com is often the #1 result on a Google or Yahoo search for "kallah."
Today I heard of another couple of tricks. I spoke with someone who was approached by the latest addition to advertising media in the area. He insisted he never agreed to be in but only sent in his ad design because the person asked him to do in order to show him "how it would look" in the magazine. But the publisher went ahead and not only inserted the ad but sent him a bill for running the ad based on a commitment for a 10 time run. On top of that the advertiser in question was given the distinct impression that 20,000 copies of this magazine are distributed. I was incredulous because I had spoken to this person who admitted that he only prints 500 to 1000 copies and does not lie to advertisers about the circulation. Well, to prove his point, the advertiser forwarded the email he received. I quote it below with the identifying names and prices removed:
"I am proud to let you know we have doubled in size since the last issue.. . .
I hope you are now ready to move forward. Its [sic] only $--to get listed and gets distributed amongst 20,000 affluent families here in the 5 Towns."
Very clever sneaky manipulation of the numbers, don't you think? If I would send out similar letters, I could claim that Kallah Magazine gets distributed among 100,000 affluent families in the 5 Towns, Queens, Flatbush, Borough Park, and Teaneck (not to mention the occasional foray into Baltimore and Passaic). But I don't do that, and I also don't claim to be the #1 anything even though Kallahmagazine.com is often the #1 result on a Google or Yahoo search for "kallah."
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