Wherever we go and whatever we do, we are surroundedby advertising. Much of the advertising around is useful — informing us of newproducts or the best bargains available at that moment. It is a way for producers to sell their products and without it many businesses would not beable to succeed. In fact, the advertiser James Randolph Adams once said “Advertising is the principal reason why the businessman has come to inheritthe Earth.”

However, is there too much advertising now?In many ways, it has started to destroy its own aim in that so much of the advertising we see is misleading. It is very possible that we now tend to ignore most of what we see. Perhaps what the famous author, H.G.Wells said is now more accurate: “Advertising is legalized lying.”

Let me give what I believe to be a perfect example of the problems of advertising. This happened to me when I was trying to find a suitable place to take my family for a holiday. I searched the travel brochures and I found what I believed to be a perfect holiday. It was advertised as “A Once in a Lifetime Holiday:”

A Once in a Lifetime Holiday

An Island Paradise

Come and relax at this wonderful, brand-new resort at the southern tip of the exotic island of Bantu. The resort, which extends over an area of 250 acres, is nestled in a shallow bay which is cooled by refreshing sea breezes. It is an ideal place to make a study of the fascinating sea creatures which aboundin the shallow waters all along this coast.

A Holiday for All the Family

For the less adventurous or younger members of the family there is an extremely large swimming pool with a water slide and diving board, a paddling poolforthe youngsters, a mini golf course and many other natural attractions.

Beautiful Bantu Island

If you want to seemore of this paradise island, the hotel will make all the arrangements for you,including deluxe,air-conditioned transport to wherever you want to go. You may wish to visit some of the following exciting attractions around the island.

Tour 1: The ancient and mysterious Lake Tali

A short drive from the resort will take you to an ancient religious site and a place of romance.Stories abound of human sacrifices and of couples throwing themselves into the lake as a desperate act of love. Spirits are regularly seen by the people living around the lake.

Tour 2: The nature reserve at Bangwe in the north ofthe island

Here can be foundall the natural wonders of the island’s wildlife: exotic plants and rare animals.

Tour 3: The unbelievable underwater cavern offthe west coast

Take a trip in anative boat along the coast from the resort to find this ancient cavern,said to be the home and final resting place of a powerful magician.

A Home from Home

Of course, in afirst class hotel you would expect to find first class accommodation. That’s why you will stay in individual, handcrafted units,made from local timber. These units will create a real back-to-nature atmosphere.

A Holiday to Make Your Money Go Further

Quality resorts are often too expensive for the ordinary working family. However, as this is anew resort and the owners are more interested in making their guests feel welcome and happy than in taking their money, this package holiday comes at aspecial giveaway price. As we KNOW you will want to explore the island on the wonderful tours described above, we include these in the price of the holiday.This means that once you arrive here, you won’t have a penny more to pay!

Don’t delay! Book now or you may miss the chance of aonce in a lifetime holiday!

I was so excited;I rushed home to show my family. We agreed it was the ideal place for us! However, the day before I was going to book the holiday, I noticed a small article in the local newspaper about the same place. The reporter had been tothe holiday resort and found that the brochure, although not telling any lies,had not presented quite the true picture:

A “Never-To-Be-Repeated” Holiday — Visit the Exotic Building Site

An Island

Yes, it is anisland, but a paradise? This half-built “resort”is situated on a bare rock in the middle of theIndian Ocean. It is perched onthe edge of a beachless bay and is constantly blasted by bitter winds that make most typhoons seem like a refreshing sea breeze. If you are a keen swimmer, make sure you take out a good insurance policy before you leave home. You would have to leap froma cliff about fifteen metres above the water, which seems to be the favourite hunting ground of a vast number of hungry sharks.

A “Holiday” for Nobody

Yes, the place does have a swimming pool (which does have a slide and adiving board) and it does have a paddling pool. What it doesn’t have,unfortunately, is WATER! The island seems to suffer from permanent drought so there isn’t enough water to have a shave,never mind fill a swimming pool. As for the other “attractions”, there is a small piece of grass, with a couple of holes marked by flags, and I suppose ahuge rock in the middle of the ocean is “natural.”

The “Beauties of Bantu Island”

THERE ARE NONE! Ignore the tours. The “air- conditioned” transport is an open-backed jeep; “Lake” Tali is a dirty pond which isn’t deep enough to drown a couple of frogs; the animals are so “rare” that we couldn’t find any; and as you need to be an experienced scuba diver to see the cavern (not tomention the ever-present sharks), yes, it is “unbelievable.”

A Home from Home

A perfect description, if you happen to be a native from the wilds of Borneo! Apart from that, the information is perfectly true.As this is in no way a first class hotel, we shouldn’t expect first class accommodation. The “units” are wooden huts and the “back-to-nature” atmosphere is created by having to wash in a tiny stream that (sometimes) runs through the“resort.”

A Holiday to Make Your Money Go Further

Well, I suppose Bantu Island is a long way away. The further the better!

In conclusion, for anybody who is still considering this“once-in-a-lifetime nightmare” I suggest you enrol in a “survival training”course immediately. You may not have noticed, but the brochure does not mention food. The reason is simple — there isn’t any!

Clearly it was not the ideal place for us to go on holiday. If I had not seen the newspaper article I would have taken my family to a place that was not only not in the slightest enjoyable, but perhaps also very dangerous. Thelesson to be learnt is clear, examine all advertisements carefully and find out as much as possible about the product from an independent source.

Things are not always what they seem to be!

不管我们身在何处，无论我们做什么，我们都将被广告所包围。大多数广告是有用的——能告诉我们当前新产品的信息，哪儿物美价廉。制造商以此来销售产品，不然，许多生意将会做不成。其实，广告商詹姆斯•兰道夫•亚当斯曾经说过：“商人最终赚到大把大把的钞票主要得力于广告的功劳。”

然而，现在的广告是否太滥了？可以说广告的效应已事与愿违，因为大量的广告是骗人的。我们大多对广告视而不见。或许大作家H.G.Wells的话更准确地道出了其中的真谛：“广告是合法化了的谎言。”

让我给你举个绝好的例子来说明广告的问题，这是我的亲身经历。我当时想找一个合适的地方带家人去度假。我查找旅游指南。我满以为找到了十全十美的假日。广告打的招牌是“终生难忘之旅”： 

终生难忘的假日旅游

天堂岛屿

班图岛南端的旅游胜地，风景宜人，赏心悦目，颇具异国情调。游区占地250英亩，为浅浅的海湾怀抱，海风习习，凉爽宜人。沿岸浅水处，海洋生物云集，是研究迷人的海洋生物的理想之地。

家庭假日

对不想太冒险的人或者是小孩，我们提供极大的游泳池，里面有水上滑梯、跳板跳水、幼儿嬉水池、微型高尔夫球场和许多别的自然景点。

美丽班图岛

如你想更多地领略天堂岛的美景，旅馆将为你安排一切，包括用带空调的豪华交通工具带你去你想去的任何地方。你或许想游览下列景点。

旅游一线：古老神秘的塔利湖。

开车从旅游胜地出发，很快就到达这充满浪漫色彩，具有远古宗教气息的塔利湖。在这儿演绎出了无数的人类祭祀场面，无数对恋人投湖殉情。人们还常常看见幽灵在湖边徘徊。

旅游二线：岛屿北部的邦威自然保护区。

在这儿能看到岛上野生动植物的奇观异景：奇特植物，珍稀动物。

旅游三线：西海岸奇异的水下洞穴。

从旅游胜地出发，坐上本地人的小船，沿岸而上可到这古老的洞穴。据说这里是位大魔法师的出生地和葬身之处。

宾至如归

在一流的宾馆你自然能享受一流的居住条件。你将住在采用本地木料、手工建造的单人套间内。这些单人套间会为你营造回归自然的真切氛围。

让你一分钱当两分钱花

好的旅游胜地常常让普通工薪家庭消费不起。可我们作为新的旅游景点，老板更关心让游客感到宾至如归，让游客高兴，而不仅仅是赚钱。这次包价旅游活动是特价优惠。我们知道你们愿意游览以上所列景点，其费用已包含在度假费用中。这意味着你一到达此地，不用再花一分钱。

不要再犹豫！马上订票。终生难忘之旅，莫失良机！

我太激动了，跑回家告知家人。家人都说这是我们度假的理想之地。然而就在订票前一天，我在地方小报上读到一篇小文章，写的就是这个地方。写文章的记者去参加了假日之旅，发现旅游指南虽未撒谎，其描述却大为失真。

“不堪回首”的假日——怪异之地

一个岛屿

不错，这是个岛屿，但天堂在哪儿？这个修建一半的“旅游胜地”位于印度洋中部的一块荒礁石上，坐落在海湾边上，并无海滩，整日被刺骨的寒风袭击，使你感到台风倒成了清爽的微风。即便你是游泳高手，离家前一定要投高额保险。你得从大约十五米高的悬崖上跳下去，下面似乎是饥饿的鲨鱼群觅食的好地方。

无人敢问津的“假日”

一点不假，此地确有个游泳池（里面确实配有滑梯、跳板），而且真的配有嬉水池。不幸的是没有水。该岛似乎常年干旱，连刮胡子的水都没有，更不用说给游泳池蓄水。至于别的“娱乐方式”，有块小草坪，有几个坑，插有旗子作标示。或许大洋中的这块巨礁是够“天然的”。

“班图岛的美景”

哪有什么美景！甭提什么旅游。“空调”交通工具是一辆敞篷吉普车；塔利湖是个脏水池，连青蛙都淹不死。动物“稀有”得一只都见不到；你要参观水下洞穴的话还必须是位经验丰富的戴水肺的潜水员（更别提随时出没的鲨鱼群了），这真是让人“难以置信”。

好一个宾至如归

你如是本地人，生活在博尼欧荒野地带，指南的描述是无可指责的！还绝对真实。这儿根本就没有一流旅馆，你也甭指望有一流的居住条件。“套间”是木制的小房子。有条小河流（偶尔）流过这“旅游胜地”，游客不得不去小河洗漱，这就是营造的所谓“回归自然”的氛围。

让你多花钱的假日游

好啦，我想班图岛路途不近吧。越远越好！

一言以蔽之，有谁还在考虑这“终生难忘的噩梦”，我建议他马上去报名参加“生存训练课程”班培训。或许你还没注意到，指南没提到食品。原因很简单——压根就没有！

班图岛显然不是我们理想的度假场地。幸好我看到了这篇报道，否则，我准带我的家人去了，不仅没有一丁点儿乐趣，还非常危险。教训是深刻的：仔细阅读所有广告，从中获取尽可能多的信息。

事情往往不像看起来那么回事！