Back in the 80s I remember watching a TV commercial for Bayer aspirin. I only saw it once, but it stuck with me because of its deceitful use of numbers. Thanks to the miracle of the modern internet, it only took a few minutes to find it:
Did you notice the trick? The four choices were Tylenol, Extra Strength Tylenol, Advil, and Bayer. The biggest competition for Bayer was Tylenol. By providing two Tylenol choices, they split this competition. The results were basically a tie: 44% Bayer, 43% for some form of Tylenol (23% extra strength, 20% regular). But by dividing the Tylenol vote, they were able make it look like Bayer won big (“nearly two to one”).
Clever but slimy. I’m surprised that the FDA let them get away with it. On the other hand, I only saw this ad once, so maybe they made them take it down?
