Lie to, Deceive, Manipulate Them--They're Only the Great Unwashed Masses

Woe be to he (or she) who is not good at mental math these days. When items in the supermarket are priced at, for example, "6/$3.00" (and so much in the store seems to have that kind of price, these days), do all shoppers know how much they are paying per item? This example is fairly easy; but how about "3/$5.00"? I have no problem with the mental math, but many people would; and even to me it's annoying when stores do that. I don't know whether they do it to make you think you need to buy 3, or 6, or 10 of the item, or just to obscure the per-item cost.

Do people realize that if a merchant's offer says "Buy one, get the second one for 50% off," the buyer is really getting 25% off the total cost? (Do the math: Say the item is $1.00. Then you're paying $1.50 instead of $2.00 for two, a savings of only one-fourth or 25%.) Or if it's "Buy three tires, get the fourth free," that also is 25% off the total. (As an example, let's say tires are $50 each. When you pay $150 for three instead of $200, you've saved $50 or one-fourth--25%.)

When a pitchman on TV is selling something for, say, $19.95, and then says he'll give you a second one free, that means the item is really $10 each—but you are being forced to buy two of them. By the way, so many small items, these days—like pairs of shoelaces and little night-light bulbs--force you to buy several of them because they are packaged together in those abominable plastic bubbles. I had to buy two eye droppers and can't foresee using the second one.

Back to those TV pitches: they might throw in a lot of "extra" and "free" stuff ("but wait, there's more!") and say it's "a $40 value." Such claims are meaningless. How can you verify what the "value" of the package is? Also, note that "shipping and handling" charges are often downplayed. They can be very high and, in fact, the vendor may make most of his profit from "shipping and handling." Also, they might say "Five easy payments of $29.99." Of course this makes it sound cheap but, unless you do that math (again), you may not realize you're paying $150.

Have you noticed that, in advertising, prices so often are preceded by "just" or "only"? A little bit of psychology to make you think it's a bargain or a good value. Be on your guard for this little bit of manipulation.

Here is a link to an article on the tricks that restaurants use in their menus to steer customers toward more expensive choices: http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/01/15/secret-restaurant-menu-tricks-dissecting-california-pizza-kitch/?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl3|link7|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.walletpop.com%2Fblog%2F2010%2F01%2F15%2Fsecret-restaurant-menu-tricks-dissecting-california-pizza-kitch%2F

Everybody wants us to buy his cola, candy, or candidate. So they make us think theirs is better, and/or that the other choice is worse. So what if they stretch the truth a little bit sometimes?

We are manipulated and deceived countless times per day--by marketers, advertisers, politicians (who notoriously have been known to deceive and out-and-out lie in their campaigns), the government, and our bosses. It's the attitude of those who govern us—in the workplace and elsewhere—that we don't need or don't deserve the truth, that the masses are fair game for every kind of deception, manipulation, and withholding of information.

I expect to blog more about these matters.

Copyright © 2010 by Richard Stein