Weasel Words

I thought this was a very interesting article. It’s amazing all the words that advertisements use to trick the viewers into buying their products. Before reading the article, I never really paid attention to the amount of weasel words that are used in most ads. Some ads consist only of weasel words and do not even say anything about the product. It astonishes me that we fall into their traps and purchase their products just from watching these ads without even knowing exactly what we are buying half the time. I knew of some of the weasel words mentioned in this article like “help” and “new and improved”. However, I never thought of words like “virtually” as being a weasel word before reading this. I think that ads use more than just the words to persuade people to buy their products. The way they lay out the ad with the objects, colors, and scenery also play a big part in attracting consumers to their products. For example, if an ad consists of “good looking” people I think they are more likely to sell their products. After reading this article, I’m definitely more aware of the words and objects that are used in different advertisements. Now I will take more time to look behind the weasel words and see what the advertisement is actually saying before I jump right in and buy the product.