History Main / VeryFalseAdvertising

** Often, many of the mobile ads for various games falsely depict infidelity as being present in the game, usually the male cheating on the female, when in reality the male in question is a more healthy partner to the female protagonist.

* This happens to the [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo Scooby gang]] in ''The Secret of Shark Island''. Not only did the brochure - implied to already be several years out of date - fail to mention the run-down hotel and general dereliction of the island, but it also forgot to talk about the [[ThreateningShark shark-infested waters]]. [[spoiler: [[ScoobyDooHoax Appropriately, as it turns out.]] Though the hotel was really derelict enough that Cher stomping on the porch is enough to send it crashing into the sea.]

* This happens to the [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo Scooby gang]] in ''The Secret of Shark Island''. Not only did the brochure - implied to already be several years out of date - fail to mention the run-down hotel and general dereliction of the island, but it also forgot to talk about the [[ThreateningShark shark-infested waters]]. [[spoiler: [[ScoobyDooHoax Appropriately, as it turns out. Though the hotel was really derelict enough that Cher stomping on the porch is enough to send it crashing into the sea.]]]]

* This happens to the [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo Scooby gang]] in ''The Secret of Shark Island''. Not only did the brochure - implied to already be several years out of date - fail to mention the run-down hotel and general dereliction of the island, but it also forgot to talk about the [[ThreateningShark shark-infested waters]]. [[spoiler: [[ScoobyDooHoax Appropriately, as it turns out.]]]]

* Downplayed example in ''WesternAnimation/TheNewScoobyDooMovies'' where ''Music/SonnyAndCher'' are heading to a hotel for 'delayed' honeymoon based on a suggestion by their agent. The musicians and the scooby gang (who were giving the pair a lift) pulled up to a very decrepit looking building, and discovered most of the advertised activities are not available at all. Downplayed in the fact that A: the brochure their agent gave them is several years out of date and B: the hotel clerk Mr. Meekley is hiding an illegal dredging scheme and is purposefully trying to make it as unattractive as possible so people wouldn't stumble onto their operation.
--> '''Cher:''' As my people would say, [[DeadpanSnarker that brochure is speaking with a forked tongue.]]

* This happens to the [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo Scooby gang]] in ''The Secret of Shark Island''. Not only did the brochure fail to mention the run-down hotel and general dereliction of the island, but it also forgot to talk about the [[ThreateningShark shark-infested waters]]. [[spoiler: [[ScoobyDooHoax Appropriately, as it turns out.]]]]

** One trend in fake phone ads now is to add features to your free ad-supported games which, in theory, let you cash out for real money if you play the game enough. The ads show people paying for groceries with money they just won, show cashiers installing the game on their customer's phone so they can get money to pay for their groceries because their wallet was stolen, paying off credit cards, paying rent, etc. Needless to say, this is a very unlikely event for any players. Getting any real money out of these free games is almost impossible, and even when you can get some, it's never even close to the amount shown in the ads.

** There have been Facebook apps that spawn clickbait advertisements of puzzles depicting ways to save a man from his death. In reality, the apps have nothing to do with that, and the Angry Reacts on posts have shown.

* Meccano had a model blocksetter crane pictured on the box lid of every set. However, not even the massive Set 10 (the largest) came with all the parts required to build the model (it was missing some gears), to say nothing of the tiny Set 1 (the smallest)--which ''also'' pictured the model.

** A new variation, ''Playing Games People Say Are Fake'', strawmans critics of these ads by misrepresenting the "these ads bear no resemblance to actual gameplay" complaint as "the games don't exist at all".

* In February 2024, a ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory''-inspired event was held in Glasglow, Scotland by a company named House of Illuminati, with advertisements for the event claiming to include things like an enchanted candy garden, live performances, lots of candy, and a tunnel clearly modeled after the tunnel from the movie, with tickets costing £35 per person. Sounds like an exciting time especially for the kids, right? Wrong. As it turned out, all of the artwork on the event's website and advertisements were generated by AI, and when ticket buyers reached the warehouse it was being held in, they and their kids were quickly met with anything but a world of pure imagination, with a mostly barren, haphazardly-decorated room with little to do, kids only getting a pitiful amount of candy and half a cup of lemonade or limeade, and other underwhelming attractions that failed to live up to the expectations of attendees. Event-goers were so upset that ''the police'' were called, and the event would close early with refunds being promised for attendees.

* In February 2024, a ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory''-inspired event was held in Glasglow, Scotland by a company named House of Illuminati, with advertisements for the event claiming to include things like an enchanted candy garden, live performances, lots of candy, and a tunnel clearly modeled after the tunnel from the movie, with tickets costing £35 per person. Sounds like an exciting time especially for the kids, right? Wrong. As it turned out, all of the artwork on the event's website and advertisements were generated by AI, and when ticket buyers reached the warehouse it was being held in, they and their kids were quickly met with anything but a world of pure imagination, with a mostly barren, haphazardly-decorated room with little to do, kids only getting a pitiful amount of candy and half a cup of lemonade or limeade, and other underwhelming attractions. Event-goers were so upset that ''the police'' were called, and the event would close early and refunds were promised for attendees.

* ''The Day Before'' was claimed in just about evert pre-release statement to be an open-world MMO survival game with heavy RPG elements. None of this was true; the game is a LooterShooter in the vein of ''VideoGame/EscapeFromTarkov'', has no meaningful RPG elements, lacks any kind of open world, and cannot support large numbers of players on a single server. Accounts from the development team have suggested that most of these ideas were never even ''planned'' to be implemented, and the game being marketed as including them was simply an out-and-out lie.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Roblox}}'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EHHnkhdYKo 2011 TV commercial]] was widely criticized because of this. Most of the places shown and one user, [=TimmyMcPwnage=], did not exist when the commercial was made. Some of the gimmicks displayed, such as the mad vehicle chase and the rave party, weren't possible to program at that time. Finally, "IT'S FREEEEEE!" [[LargeHam is shouted]], yet Builder's Club and the Robux mumbo jumbo weren't mentioned at all. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmkoGdNEs5A Here's a nice video which analyzes the commercial and points out the lies.]]

* The Malaysian TV ads for Series/TheRoadToAvonlea implied that Johnny Lee's ''The Yellow Rose'' was appearing on the show as the main theme no less. Needless to say, those who have tuned in found that to be very false. In fact, Malaysian TV ads for shows in that era seem to like putting more popular songs over scenes from the show it's advertising to confuse people into thinking the song would be appearing in the show.

* 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]]."

** Advertisements on [=YouTube=] for the mobile game ''Elf Buddy'' straight-up feature creatures and characters from the ''Franchise/{{Pokémon}}'' anime and video-games--and even rip off other franchises, like showing an "SSR" Diancie dressed as Saber from ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' and even performing her signature SwordBeam. While the app store page only features original creatures, the description ''does'' use the term "pokedex".