It’s true that we can convince people that black is white or hot is cold or fake is real. Lawyers do it for a living and get paid very well indeed for having developed this skill. “The video tape clearly shows that my client robbed the convenience store in self-defense,” claims the lawyer without cracking a smile. Even little kids—perhaps future lawyers or advertising executives—know how to manipulate language in order to transfer fact into the cloudy realm of reasonable doubt: “The dish got broke.” “The ball went into the window.”
All it takes is a little twisting of lexicon and syntax as well as an unwavering belief in one’s own version of what is real, and people do start to wonder if their heretofore grasp of reality is perhaps a little off-kilter. That’s why reality and illusion are always bumping into each other in courtrooms and advertising copy.
The latest lexical trick comes from the makers of Botox with their new advertising slogan, “Express yourself.”
In essence, they are telling us that they will stick needles in our faces to eradicate all those nasty facial expressions we’ve developed over the years, plump out our thought lines, polish away our life experiences, and turn us into expressionless clones of one another.
Sure, at first glance, you might not agree that wiping out your face’s ability to move is a way of expressing yourself. But, that’s because you’ve only heard it once or twice. After a few months of advertising, you’ll begin to understand why it’s impossible to express yourself with all those facial expressions getting in the way.
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