Puffery. It's all around us. We know that it's around us. But should it be allowed to be? In this post, I explore what puffery is and how it's distorting (most) everything we believe. I must emphasize before hand that I do not have affiliations with any of the brands listed, or any political lenience, but I will use these simply for example purposes.
So first question: What is puffery? By definition, puffery is exaggerated or false praise. Puffery is supposed to be used solely by marketers in their promotional campaigns and, in a nutshell, makes claims so bold, that makes the product sound good, but no reasonable individual should take it literally, as it can't be statistically proven.
Examples: Gillette, "the best a man can get" and, every small town diner, "World's best cup of coffee".
Sure, Gillette makes good razors, but the best a man can get? Probably not, but that's for the user to decide. Same thing with the coffee: Is it the world's best? Highly unlikely, but we aren't really meant to believe that.
Now for the dangers of puffery. Marketing campaigns undergo strict legal processes to ensure that if puffy statements are made, that no "reasonable individual" will take them literally (in TV ads, clarification is often added in small print at the bottom, and on radio read very quickly at the end). However, outside of the marketing sphere, there are limited services that fact check the statements. Due to this limited amount of oversight, it becomes the viewer's or listener's responsibility to answer the question: is it puffy, or is it true?
We live in a world of exaggeration, and somehow puffery has fallen into nearly all bubbles of modern living, from politics, to nightly news round-up shows (Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Late Night with Stephen Colbert, etc.), to social media posts. From a political perspective, I firmly believe that puffing the facts and exaggerating truths are purely for personal career gain rather than for the good of the people. This was highlighted most pre-Brexit, when the leave campaigners made stretched truths that should have had asterisks next to them that didn't and swayed a lot of voters astray. A lot of promises were falsified, and we are now seeing the ramifications of that in the current British parliament as a Brexit deal has been at a standstill for months. Nightly new round-up shows often tag President Trump through use of exaggerated claims and oddball comparisons to either make him look better or worse than his predecessors. Yes, most of these hosts are comedians so exaggeration is used in a comic sense, but there is a very real harm that those who lean one side or the other will use these shows to support and solidify their beliefs, even though they are being solidified with nothing more than a puffy statement.
Social media is probably the worst offender when it comes to puffery. Instagram models (I still hate that this is considered a part/full time profession) making everything they do seem perfect and golden. We've all seen it. Perfectly poised photos on the beach, parties with what appears to be everyone at the resort, perfect weather, and seemingly unsustainable lifestyles continue without stop. Every new post carpe diems the previous post's pants off. This is where I believe it becomes dangerous. By design, people are competitive. We compare lifestyles, livelihoods, incomes, possessions, abilities, in ways to one-up each other. With each new post, the lines between puffery & exaggeration blur ever more with reality. On more than one occasion I've seen some posts and thought "I wish I had that life". Sometimes I have to sit back, and do a mental pros list to make sure I'm on track with where I want to be in life.
So in summary, puffery can blur reality. Although rather stringent in marketing, its loose application in reality can make unlikely statements seem real. Similarly, it is important to ask critical questions when it seems an exaggerated number or too-good-to-be-true thing is happening. In doing so, one can be more understanding of the actual situation and be prepared to make more informed decisions and future actions.
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