2018-06-08

Meaningless Statement

The popular Dean Witter advertising slogan, “We measure success one

investor at a time,” is delivered in a grave tone of voice. If sound were the measure of meaningfulness, this line would be truly profound. However,

substance is the real measure, and this slogan fails the test. At best it means that each investor represents a single datum that, when added to others, equals the company’s performance. Big deal. At other brokerage

houses, that datum means the same thing. Another example of a meaningless statement is LensCrafters’ slogan, “Helping people to see better, one

hour at a time.” This slogan conjures up an image of attentive optometrists constantly performing unspecified tasks that improve clients’ vision, but in fact it is an oblique and rather silly reference to the company’s promise to make glasses in an hour.

In the course of presenting ideas, people often find it useful or necessary to present the reasons that underlie their thoughts and actions. A

meaningless explanation is one in which the reasons make no sense. For

example, a used-car dealer says in a commercial, “I’ll cosign your loan

even if you’ve had a bankruptcy. That’s because we take the trouble to

handpick and inspect these cars before you even see them. . . . We guarantee financing because we sell only quality cars.” The careful viewer wonders, How can care in selecting cars ensure that purchasers will meet their

credit obligations? (Answer: It can’t.) The following headline from a print advertisement for a furniture company offers another example of meaningless explanation: “Good news! Due to the unprecedented success of our giant furniture sale, we have extended it for ten days.” If it was so successful, we might ask, how is it that they still have enough merchandise for a ten-day extension? (The more cynical among us might translate the headline as follows: “The sale was such a flop that we’re left with a warehouse full of inferior merchandise and we’re desperate to have people buy it.”)。

无意义陈述

著名的添惠广告标语，“我们第一时间衡量一个成功的投资者。”用一种严肃的腔调传递观点。如果声响是意义的衡量，这条线会真的很深厚。物质是真实的测量，这条标语没有通过测试。最好它意味每个投资者都表现出单向的数据，当加入了其他的，等价于公司的表现。大餐。对于其他房屋经纪，数据意味着同样的事。另一个关于无意义陈述的例子是伦斯-克劳夫特的口号“帮助人们看更好的，每次一小时。”这个标语唤起很过很多人回忆，专业验光者持续进行不被界定的任务提高患者的视力，但事实上，它拐弯抹角的，愚蠢的提及公司会在一个小时内配好眼镜。

在阐述观点的过程中，人们发现在他们的想法或行动之下表达观点是有用或者必须的。一个无意义的解释是一个造成无意义的原因。比如，一个二手车经营商在一个商会中这样说：“如果你破产了，我将共同签署你的贷款。因为我们不怕麻烦手工制造并检测这些汽车在你们看见它们之前……我们保证筹措资金因为我们只卖品质汽车。”仔细的观察者发问，怎么能在选择汽车时注意确保销售商遵守了他们的信用义务？（回答：它不能。）下面的一个家具公司的平面广告标题提供了另一个无意义解释的例子：“好消息！因为我们大型家具销售的空前成功，我们将把销售日期增加十天。”如果它这么成功，我们可能会问，它怎么仍然有足够的商品够这十天的延展呢？（我们更多的怀疑可能翻译为下面的标题：“这次销售失败了，我们留下了一个装满劣质商品的仓库，我们迫切想让人们购买它。”）