The following is an advertisement that invites and incites thought and comment. The comments follow the words of the advertisement. The name of the author is omitted. The purpose of this note is to demonstrate how some advertising can produce very worrisome results. In sum, take it with a grain of salt and be careful in examining the recommended results, especially if one follows a panicky reaction.
Text: “Fellow Investor”
Comment: This introduction puts the adviser and the investor in a similar, if not the same, category. The word “fellow” represents equality. Unfortunately, there is no equality in the knowledge of the adviser and the potential client. Thus, the word “fellow” can easily be misleading. But “Fellow Investor,” puts the adviser and the reader in the same “fellowship” category and identification.
Text: “This is the most severe market warning I have ever issued. What you do in the next few days could determine your financial destiny for the rest of your life. These words spell panic. Because I’m here to alert you that the same forces that have triggered every financial boom and bust during our lifetimes.”
Comment. Not everyone can understand these words. However, they raise added anxiety and emphasize the adviser’s expertise. The disaster is coming soon. Where is hope?
Text: “And it’s lethal enough to rip through the world economy in the months ahead … changing our lives forever. I’m going as far as saying everything about how you earn, spend, save, and invest your money will be permanently altered.”
Comment: The message is that the financial world and the reader’s finances will change completely and irrevocably. This is scary not only for those who do not understand finance but also for those who rely on future suggestions of an expert.
Text: What can be worse? Now, I fully understand just how shocking this forecast is … and I realize that you might dismiss it as being “too extreme.” However, I’m begging you to take a few minutes to learn exactly why we’re in for a 60-month long rollercoaster ride through hell. I’ll detail exactly why this supercycle will trigger one of the most terrifying new markets here in my urgent video.
Comment: The video then produces the proof of these dire threats. This is now an invitation to get more involved and scared as well. It also produces closer contacts with potential clients.
Text. We were right before. Please don’t disregard this warning. I’m not making it lightly. We warned investors that the stock market was going to collapse in 1987… we forecasted the tech stock bubble in 1999 … and we predicted the housing crash of 2007. If you were one of the millions of Americans who didn’t heed our warnings then, I implore you to watch my video and listen this time.
Comment: Saying that we were right before, without demonstrating it, is still an assertion of expertise. It brings more pressure to decide quickly. The text adds: There is not a moment to loose [sic].
Text. See for yourself why I’m sounding the alarm bell with good reason. This is the most severe market warning I have ever issued. What you do in the next few days could determine your financial destiny for the rest of your life. Because I’m here to alert you that the same forces that have triggered every financial boom and bust during our lifetimes … Are combining in a way that is far deadlier than anything we’ve ever seen. This convergence is forming a powerful supercycle. And it’s lethal enough to rip through the world economy in the months ahead … changing our lives forever. I’m going as far as saying everything about how you earn, spend, save, and invest your money will be permanently altered. Now, I fully understand just how shocking this forecast is … and I realize that you might dismiss it as being “too extreme.” However, I’m begging you to take a few minutes to learn exactly why we’re in for a 60-month long rollercoaster ride through hell. I’ll detail exactly why this supercycle will trigger one of the most terrifying new markets here in my urgent video.
My Comment: It is unclear how much of this a reader will understand except to become more concerned. Thus, however, may be, just may be, what this adviser is saying and the evidence of past disasters might be true. The end of the world is near.
Text: Please don’t disregard this warning. I’m not making it lightly. We warned investors that the stock market was going to collapse in 1987… we forecasted the tech stock bubble in 1999 … and we predicted the housing crash of 2007. If you were one of the millions of Americans who didn’t heed our warnings then, I implore you to watch my video and listen this time. There’s not a moment to lose. See for yourself why I’m sounding the alarm bell with good reason.
My Comment: The words: I am not taking it lightly is again an identification with the reader. The words: “This is the most severe market warning I have ever issued” and the emphasis raise the readers’ anxiety. And this anxiety is then strengthened by the following: “What you do in the next few days could determine your financial destiny for the rest of your life” (emphasis added). Please note the short-term emphasis: “Next few days, “and the long-term disaster—“the rest of your life.” The disaster” is then emphasized as a personal alert.
My Questions:
What is wrong with this advertising? After all, it could reflect reality and may be a sincere worry and desire to help the ignorant. It could. However, when it is accompanied by an invitation of help through viewing the adviser’s video and pay for advice it is an advertising a business offer—a business advertisement. Well. . .not exactly. It does not offer what the buyer can judge, such as shoes the buyer can put on and feel for their comfort.
Answer: An advertising of a service which many potential clients are not likely to understand must not raise panic and anxiety as a sales technique. That is especially so if the activities of these clients might affect not only their cost and unnecessary expenses and risk taking, but also the securities markets generally by inducing too many unnecessary transactions and volatility, which imposes costs on the investors and more unjustified money in the pockets of brokers and advisers on whom the investors rely.
* * *
The same author sent the following similar message as well:
Fellow Investor,
This is the most severe market warning I have ever issued.
What you do in the next few days could determine your financial destiny for the rest of your life.
Because I’m here to alert you that the same forces that have triggered every financial boom and bust during our lifetimes …
Are combining in a way that is far deadlier than anything we’ve ever seen.
This convergence is forming a powerful megatrend. And it’s lethal enough to rip through the world economy in the months ahead … changing our lives forever. I’m going as far as saying everything about how you earn, spend, save, and invest your money will be permanently altered.
Now, I fully understand just how shocking this forecast is … and I realize that you might dismiss it as being “too extreme.”
However, I’m begging you to take a few minutes to learn exactly why we’re in for a 60-month long rollercoaster ride through hell.
I’ll detail exactly why this megatrand will trigger one of the most terrifying new markets here in my urgent video.
Please don’t disregard this warning. I’m not making it lightly.
We warned investors that the stock market was going to collapse in 1987… we forecasted the tech stock bubble in 1999 … and we predicted the housing crash of 2007.
If you were one of the millions of Americans who didn’t heed our warnings then, I implore you to watch my video and listen this time.
There’s not a moment to lose. See for yourself why I’m sounding the alarm bell with good reason.
