The Tangled Web They Weave

Book excerpt: Ivan L. Preston, recognized as a preeminent scholar of the legal dimensions of American advertising, has written The Tangled Web They Weave for the ordinary consumer as well as for advertisers and trade regulators. His frank aim is to demonstrate how advertising can better serve its audience. Advertising, Preston points out, is full of falsity that is quite legal. Indeed, clever presentation of lies can make advertising entertaining to consumers, and Preston provides lively examples and anecdotes of such cases. The problem with falsity in advertising, he argues, is not so much with the bald lie as it is with deception. It is in this thicket of implied claims that he shows us the dangers and indicates the need for regulatory adjustment. Preston takes us down the slippery slope, from the high ground of honest product claims to the unscrupulous bottom-of-the-barrel claims that are wholly false. Along the way he documents the subtle misrepresentations, half and lesser truths, and exploitations of our gullibility that abound in contemporary advertising. The cases he describes are sometimes comic and sometimes shocking and infuriating. Preston's agenda is not merely to cry Foul! He sees advertising as performing not only a legitimate but an important public service. It is in all our interests, therefore, to perfect and not just pillory. As he concludes, "It is the time to see a way to serve society by creating a standard of personal and corporate credibility under which all advertisers, regulators, and consumers should want to live."