Paula’s Choice is probably the best example that comes to mind of great transparency in a business. As soon as a business becomes even slightly opaque or resists questions, I become immediately suspicious. It’s unfortunate to have to live in such a climate of mistrust where advertising is concerned, but the corporations have dug their own graves and it’s the only way consumers can protect themselves. Who was it (Buddha?) who said something to the effect of “Never trust anything you hear or read or see, not even he himself, if it doesn’t agree with your own common sense”.

Thank you for taking part in the conversation. I’ve enjoyed it as well.

Which leads me to wonder if you’ve noticed all the female stars who advertise certain products, looking absolutely PERFECT in the ads? Do you think that they are actually wearing the hair color or makeup form the discount store? I’ve read in several places that they may not even be familiar with the product they are endorsing? Who holds them accountable? No one! It’s up to us to investigate. Being aware of it is the first step ~ kudos to Paula again! Do you think those stars that are telling us those things feel badly about deceiving the public? Does it bother their conscience on whit to be able to wear designer and have every imaginable luxury with money made off the poor dummies who believe those ads? I think not. But wait! these are not white males!

I’m not sure there ever has been or ever will be a cure for false advertising and/or misrepresenting any product or service that people may or may not need. To do so would totally destroy the free market system and we know how the communist countries fared under those type regimes!

I believe in freedom! Period! But freedom is inherently risky because it rests on personal responsibility! Not just in one area, but every area of life! I don’t want safety at the risk of freedom; so what we have to do as individuals is obtain knowledge and us our power of choice to weed out the dishonest practices. If you keep lying and people are buying under that influence won’t they eventually figure it out? But if you tell the truth and are honest about everything, won’t the people who need the products not only buy more, but tell their friends and family? I do! I tell everyone about Paula’s modus operandi and her products.

I don’t believe that everyone’s truth is different ~ truth is truth and you can’t change it. So, our worldview differs there. Nor do I believe the difference is in male/female comparison! The difference is character or the lack thereof! It is your worldview: how you perceive what’s available in light of what you think you deserve. For those who don’t feel entitled, their view is to work and make an honest profit. Those who believe they are entitled will not use the free market system at all but complain and try to guilt someone else in taking responsibility for them. Then there are those who believe they are elite, superior, exempt somehow from operating with integrity; they believe that they know better than the people what they need and how they should live their lives. They think the regular people are idiots and deserve to be manipulated. We can combat that, of course, through knowledge, research, being savvy shoppers in the market of life.

As to trusting men because they are men, you should never trust anyone on that basis, man or woman, except maybe the few people nearest you with your best interests at heart. As for me I don’t trust anyone ever when what they say and the facts of how they live don’t mesh. The first time I ever heard Bill Clinton speak, he said he related to the common people because he was also poor. POOR? An OXFORD education in Europe = poor? Ludicrous! I never trusted him after that; facts don’t lie! That’s just an example, but the elite will say whatever it takes to sell you ~ on a product, an idea, a philosophy.

I have loved this discussion; I am glad that you wrote the post and that you questioned! Maybe it has spurred your readers to investigate any claims made before swallowing the bait! YESS!!

I LOVE this comment. It has a great balancing effect. And I’d much rather someone step forward and tell me what they REALLY think, since it’s closer to my own style.

You are absolutely right. I also have a husband/father/brother that could be stereotyped as “white guys”, and they and their demographic have worked to create a world of ease and prosperity for the rest of us.

So what was I trying to say? I think it comes down to this : Can you get ahead by telling the truth? Can a corporation? Can a government?

It seems to me that Marketing 101 goes like this:
1. Create threat using pre-existing condition or invent a new one.
2. Create fear of threat.
3. Manipulate fear of threat into purchase.
4. Classify, conceal, and confuse production data.

And so we have:
1. The horrifying and bewildering insanity that is the food industry.
2. The unscrupulous disgrace that is the cosmetics industry.
3. The somewhat underhanded race for our money that is the pharmaceutical industry.
4. And that’s before we talk about government or any other big bureaucracy.

They whack at us with data. We lose our ability to think critically – that being the ability to figure out what it probably right and what is probably wrong. They feed it to us on the news by someone with an honest face (and you are so right again, because Katie Couric is not a man!). Amongst themselves, they use terms like “market penetration” , some sort of euphemism for “we have 6 months to sell them all we can of this stuff before some of them come to their senses and the rest discover that our claims were exaggerated”. But who are these “they” players in this drama?

Do I sound terribly jaded? I would love to think that I am. I would really like to believe that banks and big industry are telling us the truth. Now, of course, everyone’s truth is different and that’s expected. And I do believe that the man’s interpretation of winning at business and success in life are quite different from a woman’s (and that includes my husband/father/brother), but may be changing for both the men and the women.

But greed has deeply superseded honesty, good sense, foresight, integrity, and personal responsibility. When an idea has to be sold to you with falsified data, huge perks, or confused statistics, how good of an idea is it?

Maybe I still haven’t nailed my thought down here. Is the question really “Can you get ahead by telling the truth?” or “Will a consumer who IS told the truth make the best choice?”

And, of course, that women should never trust that men have better judgement on any topic just because they’re men.

Thanks for listening,
Glenda