And, Crystal and I must have posted at the same time, because I didn’t see hers- I think she’s right- the fine-print disclaimers. Good thing to look for.

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Of course, these are followed by a bunch of back-pedaling fine print disclaimers
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Maybe that should be our barometer for hype. Go down to the fine print.

My point is one of ‘target audience.’ That people go on about how they’ll never be swayed by hype. And that it’s not true. You and I have, and will in the future at many points be swayed by hype. We’ll see a movie that we think was ok, but generated by hype. We’ll eat a meal at a restaurant that’s just tepidly mediocre, and yet the restaurant will have got fabulous reviews.

Hype exists where we can’t even see it, or often not even sense it.

So that’s one kind of hype.

But there’s another kind of hype, like the one above. And that hype isn’t totally out of place. I’m not saying you or I (or anyone I know) should do it. But when I was at these events, I largely realised who I was with. The majority of the crowd did indeed come to get that magic potion. They did indeed come to get that silver bullet and solve ‘all’ their problems at one go.

And for many, if not most, it was at least the third or fourth time they’d bit into the bait. So yes, the hype was playing to an audience. An audience that wanted the hype.

And while we may not approve (and we don’t), the truth lies elsewhere. The truth lies in the fact that the hype is solving the problem of those who want the hype; who want the magic potion.

And that’s what I was talking about. That hype may not ‘work’ for you and me (in many cases), but indeed it does work. And it serves the purpose of the audience that needs to hear that hype–just as a hypochondriac needs to pop those pills

Good point- I think the question for me is: what is ‘hype’? I believe you are talking about hype meaning ‘exaggeration.’

And I take that to mean that while what is said may be literally true in some narrow way, it plays on a deliberate misunderstanding of meaning- for instance the $20k in one day person. And why does the misunderstanding work?

Fear- the people reading are caught up in fear.

I totally agree that manipulating fearful people works. But… there is a karmic price that your heart and soul pays when you do that. Never mind bad publicity from upset customers after the fact.

So- for me hype isn’t in the language itself- it’s in the intention to manipulate fear, and to deliberately create fuzziness and misunderstandings that benefit the seller, and not the purchaser.

How does that click with what you were writing?

Of course, these are followed by a bunch of back-pedaling fine print disclaimers