Unthinkable advertising ploys you’d never have thought existed!

The products we see on TV ads are never less than picture perfect, even to the extent of looking a bit sterile! The reason being that advertisers are full of ideas to embellish the aspects of the products that make us want to buy them. At times, their tricks and wiles result in horrendous food waste: hairspray to shine up apples, engine oil poured on to pancakes or even black polish on burger meat -it’s scandalous! Here are 14 techniques to make us believe their products are ‘perfect’. No longer will we be fooled!

1/ Hairspray or deodorant to make fruit appear shiny

To shine up apples in the ads, the trick is to spray them with deodorant or hairspray….. Appetising, don’t you think?

2/ Shoe polish on burger meat to avoid having to cook it

The people in advertising are far too busy for cooking! In most burger ads, the meat is almost raw, but covered with shoe polish to make it appear cooked to perfection…. Bon appetite!

3/ Engine oil on pancakes to look like maple syrup

Advertising companies don’t have the time to work with maple syrup, because it is absorbed too quickly when it is poured on pancakes. To create the desired effect and make it last as long as possible, they replace its golden sweetness with engine oil…..

4/ Cardboard in cakes to make sure they don’t collapse

To keep cakes in their perfect shape and form, the trick is to slide a piece of cardboard between each layer of the cake, to keep it straight and to keep the layers even.

5/ Washing-up liquid to create a good foamy head on beer

Don’t believe that the perfectly formed foamy head of the beer in the ads has anything to do with the quality of the beer: often, they use washing-up liquid to foam it up! We’re a bit less inclined to say ‘cheers’….