Marketing BS: Perfect Choice HD

I am always amazed at how little actual product information is included in marketing and advertising material. As a general principle, I avoid as much advertising as possible because most, if not all of it, contains so little usable information, and I manually mute all commercial advertisements whenever I watch television. This is particularly great prior to any elections.

Today's product is the Perfect Choice HD hearing aid device. The advertisement was in the AmericanProfile magazine section of our local Sunday newspaper on Dec. 29, 2013. There is no price, address, or URL, but there is a phone number with a promotional code to indicate somehow that this is an exclusive offer to a select few. A Google search will bring up multiple hits if you're interested.

A picture of the product is below:

It looks just like a hearing aid, however the ad copy disagrees as follows:

"Perfect Choice HD is NOT a hearing aid. It is a Personal 

Sound Amplification Product (PSAP)."

The ad continues, "Hearing aids can only be sold by an audiologist or a licensed hearing specialist following hearing tests and fitting appointments." The subtext is that the manufacturer or seller is not an audiologist or licensed specialist, so if we call this device a PSAP, even though it looks just like a hearing aid, potential customers won't mistake it for a hearing aid and assume that it will work like a hearing aid.

The produce may work fine (I doubt it) and it may be inexpensive (if it is, it probably won't work), but it obviously is supposed to be a hearing aid, regardless of what the ad copy implies.

Bottom Line: The advertiser thinks you're an idiot. Hold out for a product that doesn't insult your intelligence.

JLF