The mock article from The Onion expresses the gullibility of the consumer to believe whatever he or she is presented with and the laziness for never questioning it. The Onion emphasizes such features in an indirect way, by exaggerating the techniques used by marketer such as, appealing to false authority, using Orwellian language and logical fallacies. This creates a humorous article, which exposes a serious point The Onion tries, and succeeds, in making about the modern consumer: he is being controlled by the advertisements he sees. The first sentence in The Onion’s article clearly states marketers use of untrustworthy techniques to sell their products; “ MagnaSoles shoe inserts, which stimulate and soothe the wearer’s feet using no fewer than five forms of pseudoscience." The Onion’s decision to use pretentious language, as marketers do, wittily disguises the meaning of their chosen words. “Pseudoscience”, a term defined as fake science, passes stealthily by as a reputable form of science without the presence of an active reader. This hypnotizing affect mirrors the affect of flowery …show more content…
Moving in the next paragraph we receive an erroneous science lesson from biotrician Dr. Frankel “ MagnaSoles convert the wearer’s own energy to match the Earth’s natural vibrational rate of 32.805 kilofrankels.” The Onion now points out marketer’s reliance upon consumer’s plain stupidity to sell a product, along with the laziness of the consumer, all of which divert the costumer from understanding the fully product being sold. “Kilofrankels” is not a real measurement, and by using this term marketers are stepping passed the boundaries of calling consumers lazy for not looking up unknown words, and into the statement that consumers do not possess enough intelligence to identify a fake measurement when they see