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Hi Bernard:

Bernard asks: "How does one see through deceptive and misleading hype advertising in the area of popular techniques and 'mind' cd's and gizmos that abound. It's obvious that many consumers are rather psychologically unsophisticated and are marks for people hustling various methods. The psychologically hungy are quite easily swayed because of their needs. The promise of quick and easy results with the latest cutting edge techniques and the promise of "do nothingism".
What are the giveaway clues that someone's hustling air castles? What are the common loaded words? Astounding far-fetched stories of discovery? Claims for clinical proof. Testimonials by stars and 'authors' who appear on everybody's dust jackets with numbing frequency. What are the other hype tricks?"

Bernard some of the hype ads I've seen in mailings and on websites are a howl. It's a bit surprising when people actually believe some of the nonsense showing up in advertsing. I can understand young persons, who haven't had much life experience, getting snookered. Older adults getting drawn in by these ads, must lack psychological savvy or are so hungry for change they have blinders on. Many of the ads appeal to folk's frustration intolerance with the promise of quick and easy change. If someone is seriously changing beliefs, behavioral patterns, and emotional responses, that hold up and are not settling for quickee and temporary feel good moments that fade when the issues climb back through the window, they have to do some work. They have to have some set times and follow through. Sometimes they may feel discomfort. Aspects may take their sweet time cheanging. New patterns of behavior have to be practiced and cognitive dissonance has to be passed through.

What's ashame is that hype ads help create inflated expectations. Some folks are expecting quick, easy, and effortless changes and when none are forthcoming, they give up on marginally effective methods. A few of the hyped processes actually may provide gains if you plug away at them. Some are outright bunk. What's more a problem is that once someone's been chumped, they may become skeptical of all processes and may toss in the towel on helping themselves.

There are useful and effective self-help processes out there which don't use hype promises and wild claims in their promotional material. Besides Emoclear, I have no problem endorsing Focusing, TIR, Core Trans, EFT, TAT, REBT, Mindfulness/Vipassana, assertiveness training, exposure techniques, Solutions-Oriented approaches, and Constructive Living, as legitimate and useful techniques for making emotional and behavioral change.

Okay what are the tell-tale signs of hype and flat out bs? Here's the signs:

*The discoverer has drammatically discovered their miraculous technique and tells an incredible "story" about how they came by it. The fellow:

-Sat at the feet of monks and holymen.
-Was on the verge of death when the secret revealed itself.
-Got the secret passed on by some noble soul on their deathbed. (Hey if old Houdini could pass deathbed secrets, why not?)
-Received a revelation while being inmate in a halfway house.
-Came as an intuitive flash while in the "Mind Lab".
-Or any of the other screwball stories.

Often the developer was:

-A world explorer.
-Scientist.
-Self-made millionaire (Hey and enlightened too).
-Man of goodwill.
-Enlightened at 10 years old.
-A living success story and a testament to the divine spirit.
-Member of the National Geographic Society (A trial subscription)
-Studied with Madam Curie and Jonas Saulk while in his teens (They just happened to notice Little Joe's budding genius)

Folks if the story sounds like bs, step back and sniff. It probably is.

*Common loaded words/phrases in hype ad copy. Typical ones:

-Validated and Proven effective (I haven't seen one yet that passes scientific muster. Either research is done inhouse (conflict of interest), the sample was far too small to be considered scientific, it appeared in no peer reviewed journals, or the socalled research was unrelated to the claims being made for the technique.)
-Quick, easy, and effortless. (Right).
-Cutting edge--Miraculous changes--Life changing.
-5 millionaires in 6 months. (It's also a spiritual technique)
-Money back Guarantee (Sounds good, but the fact is the majority of folks will let the stuff gather dust in closets and never return it. Most people don't return stuff. They take the hit.)
-What monks have tried to do for years...
-Drammatically improve relationships.
-The most powerful and drammatic human potential tool the Earth has ever seen.
-Nostradamous sensed the coming age of light when OUR mind tools would be in the hands of all mankind.
-Get the financial security you've always desired--easy and effortlessly. (A technique endorsed by Willie Sutton)
-Total weight loss--Wipe out insomnia--Superb and radiant health.
-Pimples be gone!
-Peace, security, love, success, & spiritual awareness beyond your wildest dreams.
-Top secret technique.
-Instantly dissolves self-defeat painlessly and effortlessly. (Some of these processes must be practiced in an oxygen tent or iron lung)
-Revolutionary (In reality the same technique has been in existance for 2000 years)
-Used by leaders and top execs in Fourtune 500 companies. (They chumped an executive or two at a seminar and found out where they were employed. Maybe the guy was a mailroom clerk at Smith-Barney)
-The ultimate truth revealed. (You can buy the special report $$$$)
-You WILL be a millionaire and become enlightened.
-The answer--What you've always been seeking--True happiness! (All the time too just like the manic who discovered the secret)
-Magical transformation. (Let's hope you don't turn into a toadstool)
-Used by top businessmen and celebrities (Like these folks are paragons of emotional health and good relationships).
-Accelerate learning, intelligence, intuition. (Now you can spot a con job)
-Stimulate neural pathways. (Maybe this means you learned from getting chumped)
-Quantum leap.
-Increased longevity. Set your timepiece back 40 years!
-Provides the benefits of meditation at previously unheard of speeds.
-Jump start your IQ.
-Unresolved emotions gassed at the deepest level.

Does the above sound like wild and unproven claims? Outrageous in appearence to the semi-sane, but to someone unsophisticated and needy this bait works even though the technique or gizmo doesn't.

** From a previous response about testimonial advertising now in our archives** Them old devil testimonials. What's the challenge with them? Let us count the ways:

*Testimonials are viewed by critically thinking and intelligent folks as forms of deceptive advertising. Businesses possess bottom lines and people who wish to make a profit. They feel a need to slant their advertising to push their products. Testimonials are ALWAYS manipulated.

*How many companies out there, with profit margins or a hunger for bucks, are going to place their complaint department letters in their advertising? You'll only see the glowing endorsements. (Some gathered when trainees endorphined up at group trainings or purchased from author and celebrity agencies. Authors and celebrities sell their endorsements just like Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. You've seen the same tired names on the dust jackets of hundreds of books).

*Testimonials are deceptive by their nature. They are information control. Most intelligent people see them as meaningless fluff. They ignore testimonials because they understand their nature. They're used to try to sell you something.

*Testimonials may be repositories for hype and inflated claims. Hype and inflated claims may have short-term benefits for the business, but in the long run word gets around that what they're hustling is bs.

*A very important thing about hype and inflated claims is that if you're in the business of pushing hyped growth techniques your customers can get really high expections. If these high expectations fail to be met, folks may get very pissed off, feel guilty about not "getting it", or maybe even depressed about their failure to "get it". It also sets up magical expectations that the learning will come effortlessly with little or no work. People may quit what they're doing when they don't experience immediate gratification.

*Testimonials may be "bought". In the book industry it's well known that certain authors and experts regularly sell their testimonials. There's agencies that handle endorsements and testimonials. Many readers are hip to this when they keep seeing the same group of name authors showing up time and again on the dust jackets of so many books. There's some concern among readers that Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer may go blind from so much "reading". On a similar note in the world of sports and sneakers some highschool basketball kid just got 90 million bucks for endorsing sneaks. Think he won't wear them and smile at their name?

*Some testimonials are nothing more than pasted up faces and ad copy, the constructions of a well paid ad agency.

*There are numerous training organizations notorious for grabbing exuberantly glowing and "life changing" testimonials from their newly minted and highly endorphined trainees fresh from running long hours of techniques and being in a "loving" and "ra ra" atmosphere. These are those classics like: "My life changed forever." "The greatest six days of my life--totally AMAZING." "I too was skeptical until I saw the face of Konga and knew the greatest love of all. I chased enlightenment in all the wrong places. I tried Buddhism, dowsing, necromancy--none of it worked. Then I found SatanWorks. The answer was mine. In humble gratitude and total love, Idi Amin." You know the riff. B capital S.

Life is filled with learnings.

Take care, Steve

Hi Steve,

You're not kidding. These places do exist. I've seen a few of them and marveled at how cheezy they are. Steve you have a rare comedic gift of highlighting the vividly idiotic.

Paul Mayer

Steve,

As someone with more experience in advertising than I wish I'd gained, I appreciate your take on how spiritual and personal growth hucksters promote purported overnight miracles. A few observations:

1. It's partly a cultural phenomenon that varies worldwide. At present, Americans in particular seem to be susceptible to quick, effortless and definitive fixes.
2. This is particularly true of egocentric goals such as self-fulfillment (becoming one's fantasized identity), achieving success (usually involving wealth or power), or physical appearance (often involving weight loss). Just check out the non-fiction bestseller list for books that have the words "how to" on the cover or make some promise of betterment.
3. The more abstract and ephermeral the product, the more susceptible people are to hype. Car and computer ads use some metaphors and hyperbole, but they usually include specifications: headroom, horsepower, Mhz, gigabytes and so forth. There are some testimonial ads--particularly for business and industrial products--that include hard facts and figures. Those results are likely to be true.

What if we do a book called "How to become the next overnight personal growth guru in 10 easy steps!" Could we get on Oprah's show with that?

I'll leave the subtitle up to you.

Best, Eldon