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The art of gimmickry is in itself an institution. Go back through magazines and look through the ads. At a nickel per by count alone in findings one could become rich. Fortunes must have been made from this stuff.
The products that came out to "help" your car burn less oil, and less gasoline, form a list that would rival the thickest Webster's volumes, I'm sure.
The secret is that a lot of these gimmicks were cheap enough that the typical buyer--with only a tiny percent in exception--was not inclined to be bothered trying to get a refund when the product did not deliver as claimed.
Caveat emptor turned to buyer emptier.
It's an interesting lesson--in more ways than one--IMHO.
It is a grim reminder that the primary reason to manufacture saleable product is to make money. That the buyer is satisfied, and finds pleasure and use in such product, is always a mere by-product. And the manufacturer does what they can through actual delivery, or through advertising, to maintain the illusion that the order of priority is otherwise....Anyone that believes otherwise could be called a fool....or just mere John Q. Public. This has worked for years.
P.T. Barnum lives on in immortality.
Just the way it is--and always has been....
Otherwise...how could eBay have ever survived beyond its infancy....?
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