The Onion poked fun at the ways in which products are marketed at consumers using satire. The MagnaSoles article references false logos such as pseudoscience as well other nonscientific terms and concepts to advertise their product. The article also uses faulty logic to try and convince readers that MagnaSoles are great products to buy. Through these strategies, The Onion is implying that other products are marketed ridiculously to consumers. This MagnaSoles advertisement does not put its best foot forward with all of the false logos. It mentions pseudoscience numerous times. Pseudoscience is fake science, which people really shouldn’t be trusting because by definition it is made up. The “research” that the concepts of the product are based
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The writers of the release try to draw people in by convincing them to make quick assumptions without thinking them through. The testimony used in lines 56 through 62 contain statements that at first glance seem to make sense, but at second glance does not really make any sense. The woman in the testimony states that after seven weeks of wearing the MagnaSoles, her twisted ankle started to feel better and accredited the relief to MagnaSoles. Of course it started to feel better, twisted ankles heal themselves in seven weeks! MagnaSoles would not have much to do with the healing process. Paragraph eight claims that, “the $19.95 insoles are…a welcome alternative to expensive, effective forms of traditional medicine”. At first the reader may think that MagnaSoles must be great because they are so inexpensive and are contrasted against expensive ways of traditional medicine. However, by creating this contrast, the sentence implies that MagnaSoles will also be the opposite of the other adjective describing traditional medicine as well: “effective”. If MagnaSoles are not effective, why would anyone want them? This faulty logic makes fun of how consumers often don’t read very carefully and think through what has been broadcast to them. Instead, they make quick assumptions and fall prey to the marketers. The Onion uses satire throughout the mock press release to make fun of the gullibility of consumers and the manipulative strategies of marketers in
The writers of the release try to draw people in by convincing them to make quick assumptions without thinking them through. The testimony used in lines 56 through 62 contain statements that at first glance seem to make sense, but at second glance does not really make any sense. The woman in the testimony states that after seven weeks of wearing the MagnaSoles, her twisted ankle started to feel better and accredited the relief to MagnaSoles. Of course it started to feel better, twisted ankles heal themselves in seven weeks! MagnaSoles would not have much to do with the healing process. Paragraph eight claims that, “the $19.95 insoles are…a welcome alternative to expensive, effective forms of traditional medicine”. At first the reader may think that MagnaSoles must be great because they are so inexpensive and are contrasted against expensive ways of traditional medicine. However, by creating this contrast, the sentence implies that MagnaSoles will also be the opposite of the other adjective describing traditional medicine as well: “effective”. If MagnaSoles are not effective, why would anyone want them? This faulty logic makes fun of how consumers often don’t read very carefully and think through what has been broadcast to them. Instead, they make quick assumptions and fall prey to the marketers. The Onion uses satire throughout the mock press release to make fun of the gullibility of consumers and the manipulative strategies of marketers in