http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/...d.php?t=569715
Inspired by the above thread, what overused or other baloney words in advertising make you want to kill kittens?
My 2c worth:
- The OP of the thread mentions "decadent" in relation to chocolate. I am sooooo tired of that by now! [Indiana Jones] Chocolate, why does it always have to be chocolate? [/Indiana Jones] Why not Philadelphia cream cheese, or maple syrup? When Sally Bowles in Cabaret speaks of "divine decadence, darling" SHE's not talking about choc!
- "New and improved": This got overdone and eventually died (thank goodness), but I'm talking about where they said it as "it's not X, it's NEW, IMPROVED X", or its variant where the pitchperson says "I've been telling you to buy X for years, but I'm not telling you to buy it any more: I'm telling you to buy NEW, IMPROVED X!"
Its successor/opposite has become (when the design of the package has been revised: and yes, one can say something is N & I when all they HAVE changed is the packaging) "NEW LOOK, SAME GREAT TASTE!"
- "Call within the next 10 minutes" / "The first 250 callers will receive ...": accompanied by a clock counting down the minutes or a counter tallying the number of people who've supposedly already called: then half an hour later you see the same ad with the same clock or, by which time supposedly close to 1,000 people should have had time to call, the same counter! Do they really keep track of what time these ads play in what market? How do you account for Eastern vs. Pacific time? Who do they think they're fooling? (It used to be "call before midnight tomorrow" to get the same effect, without the phoney timer or counter, and 2 days later you see the same ad.)
What else can you think of? Rant chicks, rant!