Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf
But why lie and say people are willing to pay more? They may pay because it's the only way to get what they want, but are they willing to pay more? No way.
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I guess it depends on your definition of lying. They're not saying anything that's untrue. They're telling the truth in the nicest sounding way. That's what marketing people do.
As an aside, my brother and I have had a running argument for years about whether salesmen tell lies. He's a salesman. I forget which of us originally came up with this example but a used car lot owner gets in a junker that looks pretty good. It's nice and clean and pretty but an experienced car guy can tell it's not going to last very long. So he calls his grandmother and asks her to drive it to get her groceries, which she does. Later a young couple comes in and he shows it to them and tells them it's just been driven by a little old lady to the grocery store. They buy the car, assuming it's been cared for and treated gently. Did he tell a lie?
My brother insists that he did not since nothing he said was untrue. I maintain that it's a lie because what he said was intentionally designed to make them believe something that wasn't true. Of course I'm right but he never can quite see that. And he says something similar about me.
What Bezos said wasn't calculated to believe something that wasn't true. It was simply putting the truth in the best light. I don't think it's a lie in our culture. If we were all monks or priests then maybe so.
I doubt anyone likes all the stuff capitalists do but we sure do like the paychecks we get because they do it.
Barry