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Ad lies and the lying liars who tell them Funny thing about advertising claims: make the Big Lie big enough, and it escapes legal repercussions. Show a possibly dated claim that your premium vodka is preferred to another premium vodka, and lawyers hop off their bar stools and drag it to court. But tell Los Angeles radio audiences every morning that getting a home loan from Lenox Financial is “the biggest no-brainer in the history of mankind,” and you defeat all competitive arguments. What would be the counterargument? That something else is indisputably the biggest no-brainer in the history of mankind? Could this be the most preposterous claim in the history of advertising? —Posted by Gregory Solman

November 13, 2006 | Permalink

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Comments

I don't get it. Is there a story here?

Posted by: sixtoe | Nov 13, 2006 10:25:42 AM

nice headline. where'd you get it from?

the sign off on my weekly gawker column:
94 years ago, liar H.K. McCann launched his NYC ad agency with the slogan "Truth Well Told." That was a Big Fat Lie. Advertising copywriter copyranter brings you instances of Ad Lies and the Lying Liars who sell them.

Posted by: copyranter | Nov 13, 2006 11:59:03 AM

Al Franken's book, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them," beat you both to it.

Posted by: Richard Daly | Nov 13, 2006 1:20:23 PM

The Zapruder film provides more laughs than Copyranter's column on Gawker.

Posted by: Dark Muffy | Nov 13, 2006 2:08:07 PM

I remember 180 Amsterdam did a nice campaign for Dr Pepper with the tagline "Dr Pepper Solves All Your Problems" a few years back. I think that one took the cake of overclaims. Found an old link to the package here:

http://telcontar.net/Misc/packaging/

Posted by: Marci | Nov 14, 2006 12:01:52 PM

"Geico.com: so easy, even a caveman could use it."

Posted by: ronbo | Nov 17, 2006 9:21:59 PM

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