The Super Bowl is coming soon, and the world’s leading brands are already preparing their commercials for this event, urging us to buy them and only their products. The space around us is just overflowing with a wide variety of advertising, and it becomes very difficult, almost impossible, to distinguish an absolute scam from really useful things and services.
Recently, this issue was raised in the AskReddit community and, in fact, advertisers and marketers should carefully read the resulting thread. However, we ordinary consumers should too. Here Bored Panda has put together this selection for you, which will definitely come in handy.
#1
Diamonds
Image credits: RayquazaRising
#2
Peloton bikes. Over a thousand dollars to buy a stationary exercise bicycle and you still need to pay a monthly subscription to get the most out of the bike.
Image credits: theassassintherapist
#3
Branded painkillers like Advil or Tylenol. Just buy generic and save money. It’s the same thing.
Image credits: 40days40nights
Any person is surrounded by such a huge amount of various scams that it becomes scary to stay out of trouble here. However, people tend to put themselves at risk. At least because marketing and promotion are usually done by professionals, but it’s all targeted to amateurs. In other words, there are no specialized courses at any university on how, for example, to distinguish between trustworthy advertising and the kind that you should stay away from.
#4
I’ve said this before, and I’m gonna say it again.
DETOX PRODUCTS DON’T F*****G WORK! YOU DON’T NEED A DETOX! YOU HAVE A LIVER, A KIDNEY OR TWO (idk, maybe someone reading this has extra kidneys) AND OTHER ORGANS THAT NATURALLY DETOXIFY YOU!
Image credits: Turtlethebean
#5
COLLEGE TEXT BOOKS. You need edition 10 for this class. They change one chapter in the book make it a new edition over price it and f**k the college kids. Always drove me nuts when I was I college.
Image credits: BettyNRivera
#6
Anything that claims to target the loss of fat from a specific area of your body.
Image credits: DarthDregan
In search of gaining confidence, people often turn to experts – and here lies the main snag. The problem is that assessing someone’s level of expertise in the modern world is also not that easy. Any person in a stylish suit, confidently broadcasting in a beautifully furnished studio, can turn out to be either a proven expert with decades of experience under the belt, or just a talented crook.
Various certificates and diplomas, which are traditionally considered signs of expertise, unfortunately, have depreciated considerably in the 21st century. These attributes may be genuine, or they may simply mislead gullible people to create the effect of trusting what the “expert” says to make a purchase or invest money.
#7
Anything from Goop.
Image credits: Imaginary_Chair_6958
#8
All of those weight loss teas influencers promoted a few years ago. They’re just laxatives.
Image credits: the-cosmic-kraken
#9
homeopathy
Image credits: Panndaa31
“I think that a lot of people who are not normally gullible can get caught up in these scams because it has to do with the distortion of – the undermining of – normally good decision-making principles,” says Robert Cialdini, formerly Regents’ Professor of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University, in an interview with Kendal.org. “The root cause of people falling victim to a financial fraud is their uncertainty about the details of the financial environment. When people feel uncertain about financial decisions, they look outside themselves, and this sets them up for the fraud.”
#10
Academic databases like Elsevier and JSTOR. No matter what you or your school pays for access, exactly $0.00 goes to the researchers. Fun fact: if you contact the researcher directly, they will usually email you a copy for free.
Image credits: Grouchy_Writer_Dude
#11
Insurance. The one product you pay for and are never supposed to actually use. And if you do use it, you are penalized.
Image credits: v2micca
#12
Beats by Dre.
Image credits: ZotDragon
As a result, the world is experiencing an unprecedented crisis of confidence. This was facilitated by both the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased turbulence of the world community in recent years. Thus, according to the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer, the general level of public confidence has decreased from 53 percent in 2020 to 48 percent in 2021. We are almost sure that by the end of 2022, this indicator has decreased even more.
“Without a trusted leadership source to look to, people don’t know where or who to get reliable information. The global infodemic has driven trust in all news sources to record lows with social media (35 percent) and owned media (41 percent) the least trusted; traditional media (53 percent) saw the largest drop in trust at eight points globally,” the study notes.
#13
Single-use access codes for college textbooks is pretty much racketeering.
Image credits: colonelsmoothie
#14
Any vehicle you have to pay extra to unlock a feature, specifically new cars
Image credits: vridgley
#15
Those stupid copper and magnet bracelets.
Image credits: j_grouchy
The high-profile revelations of recent years, such as Theranos or Nikola, have also not contributed to the growth of people’s trust in startups or big business. Moreover, netizens still tend to consider many things an absolute scam – just read this recent compilation post of ours, for example. In any case, we are sure that this list will be useful to you, and if any of the products or services that you do not trust are not here, please feel free to add them in the comments.
#16
The dietary pyramid/ federal dietary guidelines
Image credits: Killermondoduderawks
#17
Ear wax candles. Burn one not in an ear, and it still fills up with wax.
Image credits: JustSoHappy
#18
Charcoal toothpaste. It scrapes your teeth
Image credits: amogus_sus42
#19
That s****y Prime drink from Logan Paul, especially in the UK. Kids are using it as a status symbol because apparently its hard to get there?
Its an overpriced energy drink, absolutely ridiculous.
Image credits: Cleverbird
#20
McAffee and Norton antivirus software
Image credits: FriendlyFloyd7
#21
Sea Monkeys – I never got a single one with a crown and trident!
Image credits: ScottRiqui
#22
Are NFTs still famous?
Image credits: tacobelmont
#23
There was a product in the 80’s it was a blanket that gaurenteed you could lose weight by just sitting in it
Image credits: wetlettuce42
#24
Waist trainers.
Image credits: NoAction5495
#25
Head On™️. Apply directly to forehead
Image credits: craphand
#26
The Shake Weight had its heyday
Image credits: ShrinknShrivel
#27
There was a Pet Rock when I was a kid.
Image credits: yourPWD
#28
I don’t know about famous but it was out there.
Back in the early/mid 00’s there was a fuel saver module pimped over TV and the internet. You plugged it in your car to get more HP and better fuel mileage. It was just fancy marketing. All it did was trick your intake air temperature sensor into thinking the air was colder.
Image credits: giantvoice
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