Evil Marketing Techniques That Businesses Don't Want You To Know (50 New Pics)

To find out more about false marketing, Bored Panda reached out to Atul Minocha, partner at marketing consulting firm Chief Outsiders and author of a recently published book “Lies, Damned Lies, and Marketing: Separate Fact from Fiction and Drive Growth”.

Generally, false advertising involves companies giving out false and misleading information to advertise products to their customers. This covers product descriptions, pricing, and quality. Big organizations might advertise benefits you won't actually get or give features you didn't expect to see in the first place.

Atul Minocha told Bored Panda that false marketing has an effect on everyone; it's bad for the businesses that practice it and it's obviously bad for the customers. “It simply builds distrust. In fact, if a customer has been through this a lot, she or he will start distrusting even good and legitimate messages,” he said.

When asked why deceptive marketing is so widely used, Atul said he doesn't actually think it forms the majority. “In other words, most of the marketing is legitimate. Unfortunately, a few bad apples can create a lot of stink and distrust,” he explained further. Having these kinds of doubts might lead customers into thinking that all marketing is more or less self-serving.

According to this study, almost 70% of British consumers don't trust advertising (which is a slice of the marketing pie) in general and 42% distrust brands, seeing them as remote and unreachable. The internet era has turned customers into researchers. The ability to fact check “has built cynicism as consumers investigate multiple sources“ to reach the truth. The same study shows that six in ten buyers claim they have become more loyal to the brands they trust.

However, some companies still choose to hide disclaimers on billboards and posters, lie on product packaging and deceive their customers into signing agreements without asking to read them first. “People who practice [false marketing] still do it because, perhaps, they are what we might call fly-by-night operators who are really not interested in long-term success. They are only interested in short-term and immediate gains,“ Atul Minocha told Bored Panda.

But how should consumers react when they see deceptive marketing examples? According to Atul, customers should stay vigilant. If you have suffered from it, you should do at least one of these things (maybe even both): “One, file a complaint with the authorities. And two, use the power of social media to call out any misleading marketing encountered,“ he said.

Lastly, Atul is asking you not to reject all marketing, since most of it is actually good. “Great marketing starts with understanding the customer. This helps customers receive what they would want to receive,” he said. This way, there's trust between a company and its customers and that is crucial for any successful long-term relationship.