> 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.
Part of the trick of things like that is that even if you consciously
realize they make no sense, they can still have an effect on a
pre-rational level. Especially if you keep getting bombarded with them
over and over.
What really weirds me out is when they say "You can save up to 70% or
more!"...what does this mean?
Eva