Ads That Lie To Us

Advertising doesn’t always have the best reputation when it comes to being honest. There are many adverts out there that just seem too good to be true, and most of the time that’s because they are. With so much competition, some companies take some creative liberties to stand out in the crowd, and the results can be pretty outrageous! So, let’s expose some of the craziest ads that lie to us!

Balance Bracelets

Would you like to learn how to take $2 wristbands and sell them for $50 a piece? Now you can with iRenew, a product that claims to improve strength, wellness, and balance, just by wearing a silicone wristband! But where does this supposed power actually come from? Well, iRenew claim that their bracelet was developed using an ionized energy system which they refer to as “wave technology”. According to them, this technology is imbued within the bracelet and is proven to work.

If you’ve never heard of “wave technology”, or don’t understand what they’re talking about, then don’t worry, nobody does! By using made-up jargon and complicated-sounding words, the guys over at iRenew are trying to sound super smart, and even claim to have more than 20 years of research to back up their invention.

But given the fact that all these claims have absolutely no evidence to support them, nor any actual scientific explanation, this technology doesn’t seem very “proven” to me. More likely, iRenew’s marketing team plucked a few technology buzzwords to sound legitimate to the more gullible, and less-informed, customers out there, who are totally taken in by it. Maybe it’s also the ad’s shining endorsements that lure them in.

They have shown random stock images of celebrities and athletes in their ad. Only problem is, they’re not wearing iRenew in any of these images in which they’re doing activities that would definitely benefit from addition of a silicone bracelet!

With such shaky evidence for any benefits, it’s not surprising that the company behind the iRenew bracelet faced two class-action lawsuits due to false claims that the bracelet helps promote balance, and had to reimburse anyone who purchased the bracelet between 2009 and 2012!

But iRenew aren’t the only company throwing customers for a loop with these so-called “energy bracelets”. Perhaps the most famous of these mystic wristbands is the Power Balance band, which hit shelves in 2007. In their words, these bracelets are embedded with “holograms” that supposedly interact with the body’s natural energy flow.

©Wagner Bonifacio Leite via Wikimedia Commons

So what does any of this mean? Well, Power Balance are unsurprisingly vague on the matter, claiming on their website that the so-called holograms are designed based on Eastern philosophies. These Eastern philosophies supposedly relate to the practice of arranging objects to create a balanced energy flow in living spaces, known as Feng Shui. How exactly are these principles integrated into the band? Well, they’ve never bothered to explain!

It seems that Power Balance are just exploiting spiritual beliefs to lend believability to their own phony science. But why do people get so taken in by the claims made by companies like this if there’s no proof that any of it works? Well, the adverts cleverly show a simple-looking balance test to “prove” that their wristbands improve balance and resistance.

However, these demonstrations are much more than meets the eye, all thanks to a little sleight of hand. In ads for these balance bands, a participant typically stands on one leg with their arms stretched out, while the demonstrator pushes down on the subject’s arm, causing them to fall off-balance very easily.

Next, subjects are given a balance band and demonstrators conduct the test again, but this time the participant is miraculously able to resist to a much higher degree before losing balance. But it’s not actually the band causing this change; it’s a simple physics trick, and it works because of torque, or the angle through which force is being applied.

In this case, the Power Balance representative merely changes the direction of the force he’s applying the second time around, subtly angling it in a diagonal direction toward the participant’s feet, rather than straight down, resulting in an easier-to-resist force acting on the participant.

With bogus bits of deception like this strewn throughout almost all of their ads, companies like Power Balance and iRenew always include a nifty little disclaimer, stating that the brand themselves make no claims about the effectiveness of the wristband.

That’s right, they let the customer decide if it works based on their own experiences, hence why their marketing its so driven by costumer testimonials. Testimonials of these regular people, that is, who are totally not paid actors! So, without any credible science to back their claims up, balance band producers would be better off running a magic show, specializing in nothing more than placebo effects.

Misleading Mobile Ads

If you’re active on social media, it’s likely you’ve seen tons of ads just like the one below.

Most often, they show fun-looking puzzles where the users need to avert disasters by making a choice pulling pins in the right order! However, those social media ads are far from a truthful representation of the core gameplay you actually experience after downloading one of these apps. Homescapes is the most notorious for these misleading ads, and even the app icon references what’s shown in the ads as opposed to the actual gameplay, which is actually much closer to a Bejeweled-style icon-matching game!

Playrix, the developers of Homescapes have attempted to justify their misleading ads by claiming that the type of gameplay in the ads is, in fact, in their games. And, technically, they were right. But here’s the catch: out of thousands of levels of gameplay, there’s only around 10 minigames that look anything like the ads.

As a result of this flagrantly misleading practice, the ads were actually banned by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority in October 2020. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t other, similarly-deceitful mobile game ads out there.

Another mobile ad playing games with audiences is Mafia City which promises action-packed gameplay in which players move up in mafia ranks by making choices.

What users get instead is an experience that’s almost as bad as getting duped by the real mafia. The app is actually a base-building strategy game somewhat similar to Clash of Clans, although with some admittedly epic voice acting.

As silly as they seem, these misleading game ads reveal a massive fault within the algorithms of popular social media platforms, particularly Facebook and Instagram, where, more often than not, adverts featuring flat-out lies can be peddled without restraint. Unfortunately, when it comes to mobile game ads, the biggest loser is ultimately the players.

Perfect Smiles

There’s a lot of pressure these days to have the perfect smile. While there are lots of dental procedures out there, most take a big bite out of your wallet. With adult braces costing around $6,000 and veneers often costing upwards of $1,700 per tooth, it’s no wonder people are looking for alternative products!

So, picture this: you want better looking teeth, but don’t have the cash to drop on professional dental work, and then you see incredible transformations on ads. But just how did these people get such perfect smiles?

Yes, that’s right, you can be just like your grandma with these fake plastic teeth with Perfect Smile! But do these things really work?

Thankfully, there are plenty of reviews online to fill us in on the reality behind these perfect smiles, and you might want to brace yourself for the results. According to the ads, these $14 veneers simply need softening in warm water, before being fitted to your teeth using a moldable plastic strip, as demonstrated below by YouTube beauty guru, Chloe Morello.

Despite claiming to be a one-size-fits-all product, these teeth don’t actually measure up as expected, resulting in a pretty uncomfortable feeling in the mouth, and leaving Chloe looking a little creepy!

Thankfully for Chloe, she’s already sporting some pretty perfect chompers; but what about those who have more difficult teeth? YouTube reviewer Bunny Meyer got her hands on Instant Smile, another product claiming to cheaply help consumers achieve the Hollywood smile of their dreams, and her review showed exactly where these products fall hilariously short of their advertised promises!

These dentures aren’t even big enough to line up with Bunny’s natural gumline, let alone provide a convincing cover for uneven teeth! And if you’re still not persuaded that cheap online veneers are best avoided, there are countless other hilarious tooth pics out there that reveal the truth behind the brutal con of internet dentistry! It really was just tooth good to be true!

While there may not be much wisdom behind fake teeth, tooth-whitening is another increasingly-popular way to spruce up your smile. But with the rise of celebrity endorsed teeth whitening kits, companies are going above and beyond to get noticed, using ridiculous fake ads to do so!

The product shown in the ad turns these yellowing teeth immediately bright white. You don’t have to be a dentist to realize that the results shown here are completely fake, achieved with a simple bit of masking and re-coloring in video editing software. The transformation shown is beyond ridiculous and achieving these kinds of results would be completely impossible in reality without taking a lot of time and money.

The worst part about this ad is that the comments section is filled with hopeful people wanting to know where to buy this phony product. It’s pretty sad to see that, despite the obvious fakery, there are people out there so desperate to believe that products like this exist that they’ll hand their money over to just about anyone!

Misleading Sizes

We all remember the joy of summertime as kids. Ice-cream, water fights and of course, an epic inflatable pool! But how would you feel after putting all the effort in to order a big kiddy pool, which was advertised online, and inflate it, only to be left with the one in the image below.

©via Imgur

You can only assume that advert featured the world’s smallest children! Or, at least, that’s the only explanation for how the pool in the ad looks so much bigger than the one that arrived! What looks to be a fun-filled water wonderland of any child’s dreams turned out to be a lopsided disappointment that barely has enough room for one child, let alone the 5 shown in the ad!

Hilariously, the tiny child mutation seems to carry across a variety of pools advertised online, because surely no upstanding manufacturer would dream of using photoshop to make their pool seem larger than it actually is?

But it turns out it’s not only inflatable pools that have a shrinking effect on the younger generation. This soccer ball looked perfect for the ultimate backyard kick-around, but, unfortunately, the miniature child curse struck again.

©via Imgur

That boy would have to be less than 2 feet tall to be that size relative to the ball, and there's no label stating the product is intended for garden gnomes only! It just goes to show: no one is safe from misleading advertisements, not even children!

Wishful Thinking

Ordering online can be pretty risky sometimes, given that anyone can set up shop and sell just about anything! Beyond just traditional adverts, sellers’ images regularly fail to show a truthful representation of what you’re buying, resulting in products arriving looking slightly, or even totally, different than expected.

Platforms like Facebook and Instagram are notorious for recommending scam products and their algorithms often recommend adverts on behalf of hugely unreliable, low-cost, low-quality sites like Wish. One hapless customer appeared to learn the truth about Wish’s questionable products after they found a seemingly-impressive deal for some Airpods.

When their order finally arrived, they noticed the packaging was a little bigger than expected, and when they opened it up, they found these inside!

©Maroccan/Imgur

That’s right, not the Airpods he’d ordered, but what looks like two shower heads! While some online have argued that this particular example may have been faked for laughs, there’s no denying the abundance of very real instances of people being sorely disappointed when buying from Wish.

Take this unfortunate soul, for example, who ordered a giant chunky knit blanket, only to receive this.

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Misleading Hair Adverts

Hair product adverts are everywhere: on TV, billboards, and social media alike. After seeing the sleek and glossy results shown in these advertisements, it’s no wonder consumers are desperate to get their hands on whatever product is being advertised.

However, almost everyone ends up a bit disappointed when their hair ends up looking, not bad, but just okay, nothing like the hyper-glossy strands they were expecting. That’s because hair ads are notorious for some super sneaky tricks to make models’ hair look out of this world!

In hair ads, shine is often communicated through a line of beaming light that runs through the hair, usually in slow motion! To achieve this, hair advert producers will call in some help from a greenscreen, along with a couple of guys armed with long sticks to help the model swish their perfectly placed strands. As these invisible sticks move through the hair, it creates a shiny bar that highlights how great your hair can really look, if put directly under studio lighting, of course!

Meanwhile, invisible hairstylists in green morph suits manipulate the models’ hair to move in a way that it is unable to naturally. These green suits mean that the stylists can be edited out of the scene so it will look as though the hair is bouncing completely of its own accord as the model walks along.

So, the next time you see one of these ads, just remember that there’s likely an invisible man running around in a hair flicking frenzy or moving a curved bar for an extra-cinematic bounce! And if truly perfect hair is your one dream in life, all you need is a professionally lit studio, a couple of pole-wielding dudes in green morph suits, and around 100 crew members to follow you around all day.

Barefaced Lies

The technical side of producing an appealing advert is one thing, and you may be willing to accept some levels of exaggeration when it comes to marketing, but sometimes, things just get taken too far. The rise of social media has meant that just about anyone can start a company and set up a page showcasing their products, and that includes scammers, like the ones responsible for this next online ad for a green stick cleansing face mask.

If you’re even questioning whether or not any of that was remotely real, then you clearly haven’t been paying attention. These ads show what seems to be a miracle face mask that will suck out any and all impurities from beneath the skin’s surface.

Not only are the supposed results completely ridiculous, but whoever made these crazy videos has clearly only just discovered their editing software’s blur tool. These deceptive ad-creators have gone to extreme lengths to manufacture the desired effect needed to convince potential customers.

Looking a little closer, it becomes clear that the models in these shots are caked with thick make-up, while the video’s sharpness and contrast are pushed to the maximum to replicate the look of highly textured-looking skin that’s covered in deep, dark blackheads.

Not only that, but they appear to be using chia seeds and masquerading them as skin extractions to add even more impact to that final, oddly satisfying wipe, which itself is merely a product of a very obvious usage of video editing blurring tools used to mimic flawless skin!

But is there any truth to the green stick face mask’s claims of clearer skin? Well, reviewer Shundara Castion had quite the experience when she decided to test one! And it wasn’t because she had a hard time replicating the seamless wipes seen in the adverts:

The mask did not perform anywhere near as well as in the ads and Shundara was very disappointed with her results. Not only did the mask not work at all but Shundara got some worrying side-effects that go to show that you’re always better off buying from a reputable retailer.

While the infamous green stick mask is bad enough, there are other face masks out there that claim to produce instantaneous effects that can’t be achieved by dermatology professionals! This ad, for example, shows a truly horrifying clip of a woman who looks to be having a whole layer of skin peeled off, claiming to portray a product that can peel away freckles and hyperpigmentation in the skin!

YouTuber James Welsh burst the myth of the blatant lies behind this product by recreating a similar effect using a simple peel-off mask and eyebrow pencil.

As dermatology expert James explains, not only would the process of peeling away freckles in this way be completely agonizing, but it isn’t even possible! Pigmentation and freckles go way deeper than just the first layer of skin and removal of these conditions can only be achieved with professional chemical peels and surgery.

Despite fooling a few desperate online customers, fake ads like these are pretty easy to spot with a little common sense, and thankfully people like Shundara and James are all too willing to take a complete mask-off approach in exposing them for what they are!

Padding Out the Truth

This next ad’s tactics to show off their products are pretty below the belt to say the least! As we’ve learned already, social media can be notoriously bad for promoting misleading ads, but it can also be a very useful tool to expose advertisements’ underhand antics! This behind the scenes look at a sportswear shoot uncovers the truth behind the supposedly perfect bodies we are often confronted with online.

That’s right, those are indeed butt-pads, being used to fill out the model’s tightly-fitting gym leggings to give her rear-end all the necessary attributes that are apparently required to really sell those leggings. It’s probably time to go back to the drawing board when you’ve created a product that even the model can’t make look as intended naturally. I’m sure that’s going to make regular people feel just great when they go to try them on, only to find it impossible to recreate the appearance of the advertised images! Talk about unattainable beauty standards.

What’s even stranger is that no one on set seems to be bothered that their dirty little secret is being filmed. Maybe it goes to show how shameless these guys really are when it comes to their marketing tactics? Unfortunately, it’s not clear who the brand in question is behind this display of preposterously-padded deception.

But the fact that the process seems so slick, relaxed, and effortless certainly makes you wonder how many other companies are doing the exact same thing! And if this is just ‘part of the process’, what other advertising and marketing lies are out there, waiting to be discovered? Perhaps we’ll never know.

But what have we learned here? That you’re better off just assuming that pretty much any advert is a complete lie and that every marketing department is pure evil? Well, maybe not quite that bad, but if what we’ve learned in this article is anything to go by, it’s certainly not far from reality. Crazy idea, but maybe going to the store and trying before you buy is the new way forward? It’d certainly help avoid a repeat of this debacle.

I hope you were amazed at these ads that lie to us! Thanks for reading.