How many times have you seen an ad that says if you use their cream, oil, or message technique, you will look ten years younger in less than ten days?
Then there are testimonies from just regular folks who tell you how it worked for them. I don’t care if it’s an athlete, movie star, or former governor. Status, fame, and talent help move the emotional needle, so we take the bait.
Here is how you know if this is legit. I have seen ads for shampoo that promises to grow hair back on male pattern baldness. Let’s pause and think this through. If there is such a shampoo, I can assure you if just one man used it and he now has a full head of hair, all his friends with baldness would use it and they would tell their friends of this miracle shampoo and within a week the entire world would have tried it, but we still see men suffering from this loss of hair, myself being one of them, which tells you that shampoo turned out to be a sham.
Most great products need little advertising because those who have found the product to live up to its promise will do all the advertising. We ate at Bonchicos last night and it was the best food we have every eaten. Word of mouth is the best advertising.
There is another issue at hand. The product being hyped is being promoted by those who claim it worked for them, and it will work for you. What we don’t know is how many it didn’t work for. I suspect the ledger would tilt far more to the negative. Scripture drops a little wisdom our way when it says, “If one gives an answer before before he hears, it is his folly and shame” (Prov. 18:13).
This proverb has saved me a lot of money. A very clever salesman talked me into purchasing his product that he had presented as the greatest deal on earth. I had a three-day kick-out clause of which I took full advantage. I asked a friend of mine who is the most thorough person on planet earth to check it out. Sure enough it was too good to be true. A simple proverb saved me a bundle. My Dad told me years ago that if someone approaches you on the street and bets you $10 they can make orange juice come out of your ear, don’t take the bet. They would never make such an offer if they couldn’t do it.
“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Ps. 90:12).