Have you ever seen an advertisement and wondered how truthful it was? For example, does the leading toothpaste really fight cavities, gum disease and world poverty? Is your favorite politician's opponent actually planning to raise taxes while lowering tooth decay?
If the thought has crossed your mind, you'll be interested in "un•Spun - finding facts in a world of disinformation" by Brooks Jackson and Kathleen Hall Jamieson. The authors run through a bunch of ways for the general public to weigh fact versus fiction in both political and commercial product marketing campaigns.
The book was loaded with laughs, and I'm still amazed at what people actually believe. The problem is that the people who believe anything probably won't read this book, even if I tell them that their favorite soap contains arsenic. Or, as the PR guy would say, "loaded with essential earth elements."
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