Re: virus: From the shadows

David McFadzean (david@lucifer.com)
Mon, 17 Mar 1997 12:57:11 -0700

At 09:07 AM 17/03/97 -0800, Tim Rhodes wrote:
>On Fri, 14 Mar 1997, Lurker X wrote:
>
>> I got interested in memes as part of some anti-public relations research I
>> was doing. I can't remember where the first pointer was. Public relations
>> personnel are the people who brought you "Part of this complete breakfast",
>> and other wonderful examples of spin doctoring.

Another one that really bugs me in advertising is "up to" as in:

You can save up to 90%!
You can make up to $30,000 a month!
You can lose up to 25 pounds!

If you substitute the equivalent "no more than" you will see that
the advertisers are not making much of a claim at all (of course).
I guess what bugs me isn't so much the advertisers as the general
public who don't even bother examining the claim.

--
David McFadzean                 david@lucifer.com
Memetic Engineer                http://www.lucifer.com/~david/
Church of Virus                 http://www.lucifer.com/virus/