Turn the Hose off of Verizon's New Fake Emergency Ad

This week’s edition is another ad from Verizon:

There are two fine prints to notice in this one:

They say it is a test in the beginning of the ad, there’s no reason for the fine print. Who would really think it is an actual emergency? What would you do/call if you thought it was? My bigger concern is the “do not attempt” on the firehouse gag. The guy just stands there and is smiling as he gets wet. “Do not attempt” does not cover the blatant misleading portrayal of a fire hose in this ad. You do not see smiling or high-fiving among the riot police in this training video.

Something Fishy About Gillette's New Ad

This week’s edition is from Gillette:

The fine print was in the beginning and hard to see:

They chummed the water! No wonder the sharks swarmed to the nicks of the shaver. In fact, they never actually show the sharks going after one cage over the other, which is just clever editing. Now if they were able to get a close shave while chumming this water, and hiding in this cage, I would be impressed. Oddly enough, they compare this razor to their own “leading disposable,” instead of against a competitor like Schick. Maybe Gillette was scared of the FTC and wanted to avoid losing their title of the official razor of Shark Week.

AllState’s Ad for All States?

Here is an ad in a recent series from AllState:

While there is a lot of fine print, I noticed the one in caps:

AllState does not cover all states? I’ve never seen a fine print that directly contradicts the company’s own name. I cannot imagine GEICO caveman ads stating their policy is not available for certain government employees or New York Life not being applicable in Brooklyn.

However, sometimes even a fine print critique needs some fine print. Technically the fine print in the ad refers to the specific deductable deal, which depends on each state’s individual laws. Additionally, Allstate’s insurance does cover each state, and the origin of their name comes from a competition to name Sears’ tire division. Even so, they could have written the fine print differently to not include a part of their company’s name, like “participation varies by location” or “option dependant on local laws.”

A Problem With Lexus's Future Ads

This week’s fine print comes from Lexus:

The fine print to notice is not the “do not attempt” or “drive in a safe manner,” but:

At first glance this looks like a car commercial, but in fact, the car is not even real yet. They are actually advertising their simulator and concept vehicle LF-GH. While they are not claiming the LF-GH or any specific car will have the new reaction feature, they are misleading the viewers by association. Watch next week Mercedes comes out with an ad featuring future plans to add a flux capacitor to their new concept hovercraft or new engines on the long-awaited jet pack. Imagine touting to your boss on how great the new features on future TPS reports will be, or turning in a “concept paper” to your professor. Good luck getting away with that.

Thanks to reader Erryn Gallasch for the idea submission.