Thread · HN Continuity

Almost all marketing is actively detrimental to the world. Marketing that is intentionally truthful and intentionally avoids over-promising is actually of value to the world. Marketing where in a court of law they would not go: "Technically your honor..." and backpedal on everything they say using tortured interpretations that would make a genie blush.

The problem is that a vanishingly small amount of marketing is that way, and when done is mostly the purview of good hard-working individuals with no "marketing" experience. Almost all marketing is intentionally deceptive and fraudulent where the entire goal is to say something that only a genie would agree is technically correct, while intentionally focus grouping until every single member of the focus group believes you said something other than what your lawyers would say. That is pure, intentional, pre-meditated deception and fraud. That should be advertising fraud.

"Technically your honor" should be a instant loss in the courts. The more time you spend crafting your message, the more accurate it should be required to be. If your focus group does not think you said what your lawyers are going to say, "Go directly to jail. Do not pass Go." If your target demographic does not overwhelmingly think you said what your lawyers are going to say, that had better be a case where all the money you spent on crafting the message and the proportionally expensive preventative measures failed.

Allowing deception and fraud is the harm that suppresses good, hard-working, honest individuals and companys and replaces them with liars and cheats making the whole world poorer.