False advertising, the same old same old that I seem to run into every time I look at business news or consumer report. I came across the topic yet again when reading “C’mon, Let’s be honest!” by fellow classmate Chloe Kim where she discussed the infamous case by Listerine in which they claimed their mouthwash products were a cure for everything. This of course, did not end well for the company; they were fined millions for their attempt to deceive.

Before you guys judge, I want to clarify that I am not the infuriated consumer who is going to bash the companies because I fell for their tricks. Rather let’s approach this problem from the company’s perspective; isn’t businesses here to make a profit after all?

Indeed they are, in which case they should avoid spreading non-sense about their products even more so. The fines and legal charges are often just the short term downfalls, the bad publicity and damages done to the company’s brand image is often irreversible; the long term effects of which hurts the company beyond measurable figures. You will find companies that have endured through the ages to be ones which dealt in honesty, in relationship building and life time value over the short-sighted transaction based marketing found in these shameless examples.

Check out Chloe’s original post!

Also for some hilarious fail adversing examples from the past XD