Meaningless Statement
The popular Dean Witter advertising slogan, “We measure success one
investor at a time,” is delivered in a grave tone of voice. If sound were the measure of meaningfulness, this line would be truly profound. However,
substance is the real measure, and this slogan fails the test. At best it means that each investor represents a single datum that, when added to others, equals the company’s performance. Big deal. At other brokerage
houses, that datum means the same thing. Another example of a meaningless statement is LensCrafters’ slogan, “Helping people to see better, one
hour at a time.” This slogan conjures up an image of attentive optometrists constantly performing unspecified tasks that improve clients’ vision, but in fact it is an oblique and rather silly reference to the company’s promise to make glasses in an hour.
In the course of presenting ideas, people often find it useful or necessary to present the reasons that underlie their thoughts and actions. A
meaningless explanation is one in which the reasons make no sense. For
example, a used-car dealer says in a commercial, “I’ll cosign your loan
even if you’ve had a bankruptcy. That’s because we take the trouble to
handpick and inspect these cars before you even see them. . . . We guarantee financing because we sell only quality cars.” The careful viewer wonders, How can care in selecting cars ensure that purchasers will meet their
credit obligations? (Answer: It can’t.) The following headline from a print advertisement for a furniture company offers another example of meaningless explanation: “Good news! Due to the unprecedented success of our giant furniture sale, we have extended it for ten days.” If it was so successful, we might ask, how is it that they still have enough merchandise for a ten-day extension? (The more cynical among us might translate the headline as follows: “The sale was such a flop that we’re left with a warehouse full of inferior merchandise and we’re desperate to have people buy it.”)瓜浸。
無意義陳述
著名的添惠廣告標(biāo)語桅滋，“我們第一時間衡量一個成功的投資者望抽∽酵保”用一種嚴(yán)肅的腔調(diào)傳遞觀點。如果聲響是意義的衡量，這條線會真的很深厚。物質(zhì)是真實的測量，這條標(biāo)語沒有通過測試养盗。最好它意味每個投資者都表現(xiàn)出單向的數(shù)據(jù)，當(dāng)加入了其他的适篙，等價于公司的表現(xiàn)往核。大餐涣觉。對于其他房屋經(jīng)紀(jì)驶兜，數(shù)據(jù)意味著同樣的事剖效。另一個關(guān)于無意義陳述的例子是倫斯-克勞夫特的口號“幫助人們看更好的围详，每次一小時●没椋”這個標(biāo)語喚起很過很多人回憶窜护，專業(yè)驗光者持續(xù)進行不被界定的任務(wù)提高患者的視力，但事實上非春，它拐彎抹角的柱徙，愚蠢的提及公司會在一個小時內(nèi)配好眼鏡。
在闡述觀點的過程中奇昙，人們發(fā)現(xiàn)在他們的想法或行動之下表達觀點是有用或者必須的护侮。一個無意義的解釋是一個造成無意義的原因。比如敬矩，一個二手車經(jīng)營商在一個商會中這樣說：“如果你破產(chǎn)了概行，我將共同簽署你的貸款蠢挡。因為我們不怕麻煩手工制造并檢測這些汽車在你們看見它們之前……我們保證籌措資金因為我們只賣品質(zhì)汽車弧岳。”仔細(xì)的觀察者發(fā)問业踏，怎么能在選擇汽車時注意確保銷售商遵守了他們的信用義務(wù)禽炬？（回答：它不能。）下面的一個家具公司的平面廣告標(biāo)題提供了另一個無意義解釋的例子：“好消息勤家！因為我們大型家具銷售的空前成功腹尖，我們將把銷售日期增加十天》ゲ保”如果它這么成功热幔，我們可能會問，它怎么仍然有足夠的商品夠這十天的延展呢讼庇？（我們更多的懷疑可能翻譯為下面的標(biāo)題：“這次銷售失敗了绎巨，我們留下了一個裝滿劣質(zhì)商品的倉庫，我們迫切想讓人們購買它蠕啄〕∏冢”）
