📢 The Honest Magazine: Ad Lab
No tricks, no spin, just the truth. Design an ad that bends the facts a little — then tell people what it's really hiding.
🕵️ Learn the Tricks
Every ad you've ever seen uses at least one of these four tricks. Once you know them, you can't unsee them. Take a look at this one — see how many you can already spot.
The OMG! Ultimate Everything Solution™
A made-up product — but every trick in it is 100% real advertising language.
🎵 One more thing: Alliteration & Rhyme
This isn't a fifth trick — it doesn't try to fool you into believing something false. It's a sound trick: repeating sounds or rhythms just makes a slogan easier to remember.
Alliteration (same starting sound): "Don't dream it, drive it." (Jaguar)
Rhyme (matching end sounds): "Once you pop, you can't stop." (Pringles)
Catchy ≠ true. A jingle can be 100% honest — or completely empty. Sound just makes it stick in your head.
🎯 Spot the Trick
Which trick is each line using?
1. "Everyone's already switched to SuperClean — don't be the last one left behind!"
2. "This shampoo will give you the most incredible hair of your entire life."
3. "Offer ends tonight at midnight — act now before it's too late!"
4. "Our formula helps support healthy-looking skin."
🏢 Pick Your Company
Choose one of these made-up companies — or invent your own, just as ridiculous.
✍️ Write Your Ad
Write a short, over-the-top ad (60–100 words) for your company. Use at least two of the four tricks — on purpose.
🔍 The Honest Label
This is the whole point of The Honest Magazine: every ad gets an honest label. Here's what that looks like for the OMG! ad from Section 1 — notice how "boring" and specific it gets.
The Honest Label, for the same product
No slogans, no exclamation marks — just the facts.
Now do the same for your own ad. Which tricks did you use, and what's the plain, boring truth hiding behind them?
Almost done
Enter your name and class, then submit.
Well done!
You just wrote something you can't unsee: your own advertising trick, exposed by you. Next time you watch TV or scroll social media, you'll spot these four tricks everywhere.