After my shower last night, I went down into the kitchen to put some olive oil in my hair. I’ve been hairmaxxing for years now. My hair goes down past my shoulders. And as such, I’ve got to take better care of it than most men ever will.
Hence, washing my hair with soap made from the cleanest and most natural ingredients—and occasionally using olive oil as conditioner. Ya boy got thick hair too and an impeccable hairline for being 30.
Anyway, enough bragging…
Because last night, when I walked into my kitchen in search of olive oil, I found something frankly repulsive:
My olive oil wasn’t actually olive oil.
O no, my brothers - Y’see, Peanut does most of the grocery shopping. And since she isn’t as knee deep in the wild world of alt health, she got “got.”
Despite using this “olive oil” for a few weeks, it was only last night that I realized what it REALLY was.
And what it really was was not olive oil.
And it especially wasn’t the “extra virgin olive oil” it pretended to be.
Despite labeling itself as an extra virgin olive oil, there was a sneaky word hidden underneath this phrase:
The B-word:
Blend.
“Oh fvck,” I thought to myself right before I lubricated my hands with this poison.
Blend ain’t ever a good word to have on a bottle of oil.
So, I spun the bottle around like you do when you open your phone’s camera to the most unflattering angle of your face. I hunted for the ingredient list. And then I realized I’ve been deceived!
This bottle of “extra virgin olive oil” was only masquerading as such.
It was canola oil.
Now, I’m sure they added a itty bitty touch of extra virgin olive oil to “get away” with naming it as such. But mesuspects that it was mostly canola oil.
Which brings me to the point:
After mentally registering the brand’s name into my memory department, I dunked the bottle of canola oil into the trash. This probably wasn’t the best idea because I slammed it with such force that it shattered and spilled everywhere in the trash. And then the trash started to come alive…
Okay, maybe that didn’t happen. But I did toss the bottle immediately, texted Peanut that we got got and need actual olive oil asap.
And I will never give this brand my money if I can prevent it.
That’s the downside of deceptive marketing.
Yes, I know - hyping up claims, exaggerating results, and positioning your products and services as the key between your customers’ life now and their ideal life is marketing 101. And deception offers marketers a shortcut. Instead of thinking long and hard about your offer, your market, their problems, and how you can solve them, you can use deceptive marketing tricks—like labeling your canola oil as extra virgin olive oil and doing your damnedest to hide the word “blend” that exposes the sludge for what it is, as just one example in a long list of them—to trick your audience into making a purchase.
But this is a short-term strategy.
And not just any short-term strategy, but a short-term strategy with such long-term repercussions as completely alienating your market and making them want to actively hunt you down John Wick style.
Many such examples of this in the world of business and marketing too:
* Zoomers doctoring social proof to make it seem like they’re delivering better results than they are
* Direct response companies who sell such shyt products that don’t actually work that they need to hire the A-list of A-listers just to keep their biz afloat
* The hidden fees schtick companies like Airbnb and TicketMaster use
* Bait-and-switch tactics employed by car dealerships almost everywhere
The list goes on.
Not saying that these tactics don’t work. They obviously do. But that’s where the long-term problems begin.
Your current customers are the most important “metric” for future growth. Tricking them into becoming customers is the quickest way to make sure they don’t become repeat customers.
Anywho - want to make more money than you do right now?
Hit reply, and let’s set up a call to discuss your email marketing.
Methinks (and meknows) I can help.
John
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