History Main / VeryFalseAdvertising

** ''WebVideo/GameTheory'' has a video about false mobile game ads [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT6eMorkX78 here]], where [=MatPat=] discusses how their developers can get away with this false advertising so often.

* Cherry-flavored Coca Cola Zero Sugar is a real product. [[FridgeLogic Think about that for a second.]] Logically, it ''can't'' be cherry-flavored, or else it wouldn't be zero sugar.

* ''VideoGame/{{Evony}}'' popularized the very sleazy tactic of marketing browser games using pictures of [[SexSells scantily clad women]] who [[LadyNotAppearingInThisGame typically are nowhere to be found in the actual game]] and trying very hard to convince the viewer that the game is pornographic even when it's anything but. Its successor, ''Evony: The King's Return'' employs the similarly overused "rod puzzle game" advertising that came to prominence in the late 2010s, which in-game only appears in the first portion of the game. Later ads play on player frustration at the number of games using this type of ad that turn out to be anything but by touting itself as the only real game of this type. Which it isn't. And which anyone familiar with the "You make me horny, my lord" ads will see through immediately.

* In ''Film/CarryOnAbroad'' the gang is off for a packaged holiday in Els Bells. However, the hotel they stay at is not even completed, and eventually is completely destroyed by a big rainstorm.

* You may find ads for 1-TB or 2-TB Micro SD cards for under $50. 2-TB cards are not yet a thing, and while 1-TB cards have been a thing since 2019, as of this writing, some of them have come down to $200. What the fakes do is give false readings about their size, then, when you run out of however much space they really have and save something new on there, it will overwrite your earlier data.

* The UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis version of ''VideoGame/AlteredBeast'' was advertised as an ArcadePerfectPort. It was certainly the best port available at the time, but even [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSnM5inrdNQ a fairly casual viewer]] can tell that the Genesis version was significantly downgraded in a lot of areas, including graphics, sound, and content.

* OlderThanPrint: This is reputedly what Erik the Red did to convince people to come and populate his new settlement. "It's called UsefulNotes/{{Greenland}}! It's very green. Oh yes, there's lots of green in Greenland, yes."[[note]]This is an UrbanLegend. In reality, Eric the Red lived during the Medieval Warm Period, during which time Greenland (or the settled parts of it) was as green as its name suggested. It was only due to what is known as the Little Ice Age, lasting from 1300 to 1850, that Greenland became the frozen land it is today.[[/note]]

* The opening of ''VideoGame/{{Potionomics}}'' is a letter to the protagonist from the officiator of her grandfather's will, stating that their inheritance is a potion workshop that they'll have to claim in person or else forfeit, adding that it should be a profitable venture due to its location at a hub for adventurers. The letter is then put down, revealing that the workshop is actually completely run-down and infested with rats and cobwebs, causing the protagonist to faceplant onto the counter.

* In one ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO6Q4IFmuCA PSA]], Sister tries her hand at real estate. Almost all of the properties she sells are given this sort of treatment, with the exception of the last place in Canada; It's as good as she promised, but the area is full of [[TakeThat white supremacists]] whom the Canadians are too polite to kick out.

* This is the opening hook of several ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon''[=/=]''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons'' games. You are lured to town with the promise of easy living on a farm, only to find that the property you bought is a run-down near-ruin. Much of the game involes you (the player) turning the farm into the place you were promised.

* In one ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO6Q4IFmuCA PSA]], Sister tries her hand at real estate. Almost all of the properties she sells are given this sort of treatment, with the exception of the last place in Canada; It's as good as she promised, but the area is full of [[TakeThat white supremacists]] whom the Canadians are too polite to kick out.
* As featured on ''Website/NotAlwaysRight'', there's [[http://notalwaysright.com/false-advertising-2/43505 a bar]] out there that advertises "Free beer, topless bartenders, & [[LampshadeHanging false advertising]]."

* You may find ads for 1TB or 2TB Micro SD cards for under $50. 2 TB cards are not yet a thing, and while 1 TB cards have been a thing since 2019, as of this writing, some of them have come down to $200. What the fakes do is give false readings about their size, then, when you run out of however much space they really have and save something new on there, it will overwrite your earlier data.

* ''VideoGame/{{Evony}}'' popularized the very sleazy tactic of marketing browser games using pictures of [[SexSells scantily clad women]] who [[LadyNotAppearingInThisGame typically are nowhere to be found in the actual game]] and trying very hard to convince the viewer that the game is pornographic even when it's anything but.
** Its successor, ''Evony: The King's Return'' employs the similarly overused "rod puzzle game" advertising that came to prominence in the late 2010s, which in-game only appears in the first portion of the game. Later ads play on player frustration at the number of games using this type of ad that turn out to be anything but by touting itself as the only real game of this type. Which it isn't. And which anyone familiar with the "You make me horny, my lord" ads will see through immediately.

** Its successor, ''Evony: The King's Return'' employs the similarly overused "rod puzzle game" advertising that came to prominence in the late 2010s, which in-game only appears in the first portion of the game.

* In one ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO6Q4IFmuCA PSA]], Sister tries her hand at real estate. Almost all of the properties she sells are given this sort of treatment, with the exception of the last place in Canada; It's as good as the promised, but the area is full of [[TakeThat white supremacists]] whom the Canadians are too polite to kick out.

** Organic: Salt isn't livestock or crops. You can't deprive it of antibiotics or weedkiller because it's not a living thing. This wasn't raised on a farm; this was dug out of a Pakistani salt mine.

** The mobile developer Playrix has become '''notorious''' over time for falsely advertising their games. Probably the most notorious and blatant cases are the ads for ''Homescapes'' and ''VideoGame/{{Gardenscapes}}'', which show either Austin's family's mansion or garden in utter disrepair or Austin and Katherine in an extreme environment such as a frozen wasteland or a deserted island. In both scenarios, a set of tools is given to fix the problems or help Austin and Katherine along the way. The on-screen hand inevitably [[WhatAnIdiot selects a wrong tool]] that causes an explosion, flood, etc. or ends up harming the duo, and [[EpicFail text reading "FAIL"]] pops up shortly after. In actuality, the games are simplistic match-3 puzzles similar to ''Candy Crush''. These ads were enough of a nuisance, in fact, that the United Kingdom's Advertising Standards Authority banned two Facebook ads for both Homescapes and Gardenscapes that were ruled to not accurately represent their real gameplay and warned Playrix to ensure the ads for their games accurately represented their actual gameplay. As a result, randomly in game, gameplay resembling what the ads present shows up as a minigame.

* This is the opening hook of several ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'' games. You are lured to town with the promise of easy living on a farm, only to find that the property you bought is a run-down near-ruin. Much of the game involes you (the player) turning the farm into the place you were promised.

** Read the app store reviews for ''Evertale'', and over 90% of them are complaints about being advertised an EldritchHorror pastiche of ''Pokemon'', only to find on downloading that it's an incredibly generic gacha game with no horror elements whatsoever.

* False advertising has been a problem in mobile games since the tail end of UsefulNotes/TheNewTens, probably to the point of counting as a DorkAge.
** The mobile developer Playrix has become '''notorious''' over time for falsely advertising their games. Probably the most notorious and blatant cases are the ads for ''Homescapes'' and ''VideoGame/{{Gardenscapes}}'', which show either Austin's family's mansion or garden in utter disrepair or Austin and Katherine in an extreme environment such as a frozen wasteland or a deserted island. In both scenarios, a set of tools is given to fix the problems or help Austin and Katherine along the way. The on-screen hand inevitably [[WhatAnIdiot selects a wrong tool]] that causes an explosion, flood, etc. or ends up harming the duo, and [[EpicFail text reading "FAIL"]] pops up shortly after. In actuality, the games are simplistic match-3 puzzles similar to ''Candy Crush''.
*** These ads were enough of a nuisance, in fact, that the United Kingdom's Advertising Standards Authority banned two Facebook ads for both Homescapes and Gardenscapes that were ruled to not accurately represent their real gameplay and warned Playrix to ensure the ads for their games accurately represented their actual gameplay. As a result, randomly in game, gameplay resembling what the ads present shows up as a minigame.

** This may vary depending on the country, in the US, for example, it appears to be perfectly legal (based on the fact that everyone does it) to show things that aren't actually included in the package as long as you put "serving suggestion" on the label somewhere in small print. This is also the case for some European countries, like Germany.