Yesterday Joey Strawn wrote a blog post called “There’s no ‘I’ in brands, but they’re surrounded by a lot of BS.” His whole point is that our brands, the way people feel about our companies, is determined not by a creative ad or the news release that was just distributed; rather by our customers.

Really great point and I agree with him. In fact, I agree with it so much that I blogged about the lack of control you have around your brand last summer.

But Joey used an example of advertising that really got under my skin (and I hijacked his comments because of it):

Statements like “Debbie lost 65 pounds by using ___________ without having to change her diet!” will normally be followed by small text at the bottom that reads “Results not typical. Debbie used _________ for 14+ months plus exercise and a sensible diet.” Miracle weight loss powder, my ass. If I could regulate a perfectly sensible diet and exercise daily, I’m pretty sure I could lose 65 pounds in 14+ months without sprinkling sawdust on my food at every meal.

This really bothers me about our society. We’re get rich quick. Lose weight fast. Don’t work for anything. Overnight success.

It’s total bullshit. (Yes, Jay Dolan, I just swore in a blog post.) (more…)