Recently diagnosed with PD, and keen to learn all I can about the condition, I realise there are a bunch of cynical bandits out there keen to prey on the vulnerable. Snake oil sellers. Disgusting.
As a former sound engineer and producer, much of my work was advertising, both TV and Radio. Any advert for any remedy for anything HAD to be passed by the various script-clearing bodies before it went on air. If it was medical, then it was subjected to an extra level of scrutiny. We put copies of the stamped, cleared scripts in with the broadcast cartridges when we sent them to radio stations or the vids sent to TV, or they were rejected. Generally, I insisted on seeing the cleared scripts before I recorded - it would save a lot of expense. (I worked in very pricey West End studios).
We became expert at knowing what would clear and what would not, so much so that producers from even the biggest agencies would sometimes ask, "how much can we get away with?"
My answer was, "Nothing. It is either honest or dishonest. That way you protect the reputation of the client and keep your job longer."
There are two ways something gets advertised - word of mouth (like your example) and advertising. Both have existed for a long, long time. "Tell your friends" and "ask your friends" have been promotional tools long before the internet.
But we have a new world now where the border between viral word-of-mouth and advertising are blurred (quite intentionally, and even hidden with "influencers"), and there is little or no regulation or control. It relies on people complaining after the fact rather than forcing an advertiser to clear a script first. With the big tech companies it is money first, honesty later.
I have seen so much snake oil advertised on Meta, Google, et al! Products that would never have even got passed the reception of the old ITCA (the script clearance body in the UK in the 80s), let alone the people who cleared the scripts.
Of course, with the internet, chatting over the fence has a power and speed of spread that it didn't have in the 19th Century. And with pseudo-science, as Crippo mentioned below, they are often selling to the vulnerable and/or desperate; people in a place where their judgement might not be so keen as at other times. It is criminal - quite simply fraud. (And I include some of the "remedies" promoted via the NHS too, like acupuncture and homeopathy.)
There is an irony when some pseudo-science nonsense "cure" goes "viral."
Recently diagnosed with PD, and keen to learn all I can about the condition, I realise there are a bunch of cynical bandits out there keen to prey on the vulnerable. Snake oil sellers. Disgusting.
Silence is the best answer given to a ??? you know the rest, Blessings
All joking aside, I’ve a marvellous new investment opportunity that’s only available to a select few *lucky* people - I call it London Bridge Coin.
🤔
As a former sound engineer and producer, much of my work was advertising, both TV and Radio. Any advert for any remedy for anything HAD to be passed by the various script-clearing bodies before it went on air. If it was medical, then it was subjected to an extra level of scrutiny. We put copies of the stamped, cleared scripts in with the broadcast cartridges when we sent them to radio stations or the vids sent to TV, or they were rejected. Generally, I insisted on seeing the cleared scripts before I recorded - it would save a lot of expense. (I worked in very pricey West End studios).
We became expert at knowing what would clear and what would not, so much so that producers from even the biggest agencies would sometimes ask, "how much can we get away with?"
My answer was, "Nothing. It is either honest or dishonest. That way you protect the reputation of the client and keep your job longer."
There are two ways something gets advertised - word of mouth (like your example) and advertising. Both have existed for a long, long time. "Tell your friends" and "ask your friends" have been promotional tools long before the internet.
But we have a new world now where the border between viral word-of-mouth and advertising are blurred (quite intentionally, and even hidden with "influencers"), and there is little or no regulation or control. It relies on people complaining after the fact rather than forcing an advertiser to clear a script first. With the big tech companies it is money first, honesty later.
I have seen so much snake oil advertised on Meta, Google, et al! Products that would never have even got passed the reception of the old ITCA (the script clearance body in the UK in the 80s), let alone the people who cleared the scripts.
Of course, with the internet, chatting over the fence has a power and speed of spread that it didn't have in the 19th Century. And with pseudo-science, as Crippo mentioned below, they are often selling to the vulnerable and/or desperate; people in a place where their judgement might not be so keen as at other times. It is criminal - quite simply fraud. (And I include some of the "remedies" promoted via the NHS too, like acupuncture and homeopathy.)
There is an irony when some pseudo-science nonsense "cure" goes "viral."