People Divulge The Most Misleading Advertisements They've Ever Fallen For

In the United States, truth in advertising isn't just a suggestion. It's actually a mandate, and a violation can result in fines or other financial penalties and removal from the marketplace.

But that doesn't mean companies don't try to get as close as they can to the line between truth and exaggeration or outright falsehood in pursuit of the almighty dollar.

Reddit user youngGod928 asked:

"What’s the most misleading advertisement you’ve ever fallen for?"

Bubble Bath

"Age 4—I legit believed Mr. Bubble would appear in my bath and be my friend. Instead, I got contact dermatitis."

~ Primary_Difficulty19

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Weight Loss Pill

"A weight loss pill that promised to burn fat while I slept."

"All I lost was $19.99 and a bit of self-respect."

~ Hot_Jerrica_xoxo

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Body Spray

"Was it Tag or Axe body spray that had the commercial with the guy fleeing from a horde of horny women? Cause I bought that hook, line, and sinker."

"What?! I was 13, I didn't know any better, and I thought if I put on enough, I'd be set."

~ HeartonSleeve1989

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Manglors

"When I was little I begged my parents for this toy that was a little rubber monster that gets covered with slime.

"The commercial said, 'You can rip off his arm and put it back on!'."

"Got the toy, ripped his arm off, and it never attached back on. I think I played with it once or twice and never touched it again."

~ Thomisawesome

"MANGLORS! Awesome idea—you could pull them apart, put them back together, swap body parts around, then one dunk in the slime pit and they're good as new."

"Bada** 80s box art, cool character designs, fun accessories. I had Manglord, Manglodragon, and even Manglor Mountain (with the slime pit)."

"The only catch is that they didn't work. Like, AT ALL."

"It's not that the reattachment was weak, or that the plastic deteriorated over time, it would just immediately fall back off. It was completely incapable of doing the one thing it was marketed to do."

"One try, and it's trash."

"Complete, unmangled figures go for a pretty penny now for that reason."

~ Gamera__Obscura

Manglors Toy Commercialyoutu.be

Gaming Apps

"Probably any ad for a game from the App Store."

"It’s nothing like it shows it to be."

~ VeryAmusedADM

"I see so many cool ads for mobile games and never get any of them because I learned early on it'll just be Bejeweled."

"It's always Bejeweled."

~ Reddidnothingwrong

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Popcorn

"The rainbow colored popcorn kernels."

"That sh*t don't make rainbow popcorn—it just makes regular popcorn where the tiny bit of the hull is colored. Booo!"

~ Maybe-a-robot1

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Moon Shoes

"I got really excited about Moon Shoes when I was a kid."

"Complete bullsh*t. They were really heavy and clunky."

"You could barely jump at all. I was so disappointed."

~ LotusFlare

"OMG, I forgot about those! I pretended they were fun so my parents wouldn’t be pissed, but they sucked!"

~ BendyBitch95

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Sea Monkeys

"Sea Monkeys!"

~ csiren

"Oh man! I was crushed when those came in the mail."

"Clearly my dad had foreseen the problem because he took me to KMart to get a goldfish after I started crying."

~ TeacherPatti

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Baby Alive

"When I was a little kid in the late 80s, there were these Baby Alive dolls that walked and stuff in the commercial."

'I got one for Christmas, and all it did was barely move its head. I ran to my room and cried.

"As a parent, I feel so bad about doing that to my parents."

~ EatYourCheckers

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Car Insurance

"'Did you know Geico Saves 15% off your Car Insurance?' No, no it f*cking didn’t."

~ Dbouakhob

"UP TO, that's how they get away with it, of course."

"If they save that much for just one customer, it isn't technically a lie."

~ golden_fli

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Action Figure

"I bought what I thought was a Star Warsaction figure on eBay."

"What arrived was a comic book-sized card with a photo of the action figure I thought I was buying."

~ Waffenzug

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Service Cancelation

"'... and you can cancel any time!'."

~ MyFootballProfile

"I remember being pressured to join a gym. I said I'd just pay month by month, but they said no, I had to sign up for the long term."

"I said, 'Well what if I move for work, and can't make it to your gym?'."

"'No problem,' she says, 'we just need a note from your new employer that you can't attend a location of our gyms because you need to move for work'."

"I'm not down to get my new boss to write me a note to get out of a f*cking gym."

"Crooks."

~ lazarus870

Guess Who

"When I was young child, I saw a commercial for Guess Who, and I thought the game pieces would come alive and talk like they do in the ad."

"It literally even says the game cards don't talk in the commercial. I guess I wasn't the only one."

~ dekacube

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Army Men

"When I was about 10, I sent away for the Army man deal in the back of a comic book. Something like 400 little plastic army men and a bunch of boats, planes, jeeps, etc..."

"When it came in the mail, I opened it and sure enough there were hundreds of army men and vehicles…..all made from stamped hard plastic and flat. Like cut outs."

"It was a hard awakening to misleading advertising."

~ Repeat_Offendher

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Sunscreen

"When I was a kid in the late 90/early 00s there was a commercial for a purple sunscreen where the kids who put it on turned bright purple from head to toe."

"So you can imagine I was PISSED when it didn't turn me purple. It didn't even turn parts of my body purple."

"Not even purple spots. It rubbed in TOTALLY CLEAR! What kind of bullsh*t was that? I couldn't believe they could blatantly lie in commercials like that!"

"I lost a little of my innocence that day."

~ Willowed-Wisp

"Well, what I can tell you is that if you put it on the bottom of your feet and then walk around on your parents brand new white carpet.... well, it will turn that purple."

~ bubblegumhole23

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What misleading marketing fooled you?