Direct magazine's Curmudgeon-at-Large has done it again this time with a scathing analysis of how bad advertising--based on false notions of "creative," over- produced and under-thought-out sales appeals, and just plain stupidity and dishonesty--are costing all of us--business people and consumers, sellers and buyers--a lot of money needlessly. Lewis unmasks the incompetents and charlatans of advertising and shows how they are costing us—all of us, consumers and business people alike—money. Long known for his humorous unmasking of the ""poseurs and reprobates"" of marketing, Lewis uses those same tactics to drive home the serious, bottom-line point: Stupid and unethical advertising costs money. Poorly conceived or misleading or downright dishonest offers increase buyer skepticism. Increased buyer skepticism decreases response. Lower response ultimately means lower profitably, which inevitably translates into higher costs for marketers and higher prices for buyers. But Lewis does more than just pillory his adversaries. He provides guidance for the reader who wants to avoid the costly mistakes of other marketers and to spot the phony offers and dishonest operators among us. Coverage includes: · Online ""messup"": phony ""fear or sympathy"" offers; spam scams; outrageous claims. · ""0% interest"" offers that excite absolutely nobody: low credibility approaches; the same old tired ""pre-approved"" offers; the costly overuse of ""free""; · Customer Elimination Management (misplaced and mis-applied CRM): processes that forget the customer; standardization that fits nobody’s standard; costly and customer-alienating charges and offers. · Tired old executions: worn-out cliches; clever instead communicative copy and presentations; re-tread and irrelevant celebrities; and offers with non-existent benefits.

Herschell Gordon Lewis, aka Curmudgeon-at-Large, is generally regarded as one of the greatest copywriters of the past 50 years. He is author of 27 books, including On the Art of Writing Copy, Marketing Mayhem, The Advertising Age Handbook of Advertising, Selling on the Net, and Sales Letters That Sizzle. He has written for many trade publications, including Direct, Direct Marketing Magazine, DM News, and is the copy columnist for Catalog Age/Multichannel Merchant. He has addressed advertising and marketing audiences all over the world. In 2003 he was inducted into the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame.