I'll bet that headline made you read the rest, right? It incorporates all the language tricks used by advertisers in the little side ads that compete for your attention on the internet. Let's analyze the logic. The advertising agencies have decided that referring to someone’s mother gives authenticity, not just any mother, but a local mother. They also believe that readers will be attracted if something is shocking. The ad must suggest that whatever is being sold will be inexpensive, and that it helps with a personal problem having to do with pain, or aging, or body odor and so on. Last, the wording needs to get across the idea that there is a conspiracy among professionals in which they hope to keep secret something for which they are charging a lot of money.
Here is one that illustrates perfectly what I am talking
about:
“Dermatologists Hate Her! Local Mom Reveals $5 Trick to Erase Wrinkles. Shocking Results Exposed!”
The buzz words and phrases are simple and must work, because I see them time and again. They presumably emerged by a darwinian selective process, and now dominate the cyber world of advertising. This must reflect a deep underlying aspect of human psychology. The question is, why are they so powerful?
