Selling It: The Incredible Shrinking Package and Other Marvels of Modern Marketing

by Consumer Reports and Leslie Ware

Just how much would you pay for those 10 free minutes of long distance? Will slimming insoles do more than cushion your tired feet? Are you really the guaranteed winner of a $10 million sweepstakes? For more than twenty years, the Selling It column of Consumer Reports has been keeping tabs on come-ons like these, poking fun at and, more important, bringing them to the attention of millions of consumers. Collected here are the best--that is, the worst--from...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 039332172X
• ISBN13: 9780393321722
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 202 Pages
• Weight: 1.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 7.0" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Not funny in 2010

I don't find the topic of the book funny anymore. Corporate America has lost it's mind and we are paying for it.

How to avoid Mrs Asterisk and Mr Tiny Type.

The only conclusion I can come to after reading `Selling It' is that they are all out to get me. Fortunately I'm now hip to weasel words, tiny type and the true significance of those asterisks that are placed at the end of ad headlines. This breezily written book is a collection of items from Leslie Ware's column in Consumer Reports and reproduces (in color) the packaging, labels, ads, products and more which have appeared over the last few years, the book is nicely designed and printed too.In case you might think that [ethically questionable business transactions]are only perpetrated by obscure, small companies, read chapter five about medical miracles and chapter nine on the auto biz, here huge corporations do their best to screw as many dollars out of you for as little as the competition and the law will allow. The introduction mentions, in 1955, a salesman telling author William Whyte "The man on the other side of the counter is the enemy" and this still seems to be true at the beginning of this new century. I think it's worth quoting a few examples of the marketing man's black art:A finance company who stressed `Pay nothing till first payment.' Buy a Joe DiMaggio baseball with an `authorised facsimile signature.' Get a 105 piece tool set that includes 85 assorted screws as part of the 105 piece total. The photo in a furniture store ad that says `Photo shown for photography purposes only.'A ten once box of dates with a label stating boldly `25% More Than 8oz. Box'And there's plenty more in this fascinating book, to quote in the argot of the huckster "No home should be without a copy!"

A good book.

This is a very good book. It uncovers the amazing ways that marketing people work thier ways.The book is informative and fun to read.

Funny and Eye-Opening!

As a marketer, I've always loved the "Selling It" column in Consumer Reports. Each month offers humorous examples of how not to market your products and services! This entertaining book captures the best of the scams, misleading copy, convoluted syntax and laugh-out-loud idiocy that companies have tried to slip past us over the years. A great collection!

A Wonderful Collection of a Great Column

"Selling It" is a wonderful collection of selections from what has been and is one of Consumer Reports magazine's most appealing and long-time features - the half-truths and hanky-panky used by vendors to "sell" their products. Written mostly in a humorous, tongue-in-cheek tone, "Selling It" is a first-class antidote to caveat emptor. It's unfortunate that Leslie Ware, the editor and custodian of "Selling It," didn't know in advance what was happening at Enron Corporation. A small entry about Enron on the last page of Consumer Report might have changed history!