From the same era when heroin was sold as the non-addictive alternative to morphine. "Truth in advertising" wasn't a thing then.
"Truth in advertising" wasn't a thing then.
Is it a thing now?
In theory, but then there's Goop and its ilk.
Sounds like a hell of a time to be alive!
Mod of the Forgotten Weapons community chiming in to explain. Iver Johnson revolvers featured a (at the time) new safety mechanism that prevented the guns from going off when dropped. I wouldn't recommend giving it to a baby though.
More famously they had a "Hammer the Hammer" ad series where they showed this off.
Post with more info: https://lemmy.world/post/10228746
It's not a toy, but let your children play with it?
I think this may have been an early prototype of the philosophy: "It doesn't matter what your advertisement says, it matters whether people remember it and are impacted by it." I'd be genuinely a little curious to find out how well this ad performed in practice.
Or you just lie to everyone about your product until someone proves you wrong or even tries to sue you for the death of a family member ... and even then, you fight any accusations as much as possible until you either win or are forced to pay penalties.
And once the costs of accidental deaths out pace the cost of lying about it all, then you can change your message or your product.
Ford Corp was famous for balancing the cost of recalls that could prevent deaths to litigation. The last time I read about it 20 years ago, the company had narrowed it down to valuing human life at about two million dollars. If litigation per person rose above that level, then it was cheaper to announce a recall.
Between 1899 and 1908 ~700,000 were sold. But I'd attribute it more to a more successful campaign they ran called "Hammer the Hammer"
Link for info on that:
"Accidental discharge impossible."
If only all those kids who shot themselves had better parents who bought "the right" gun.
An accidental discharge is not a negligent discharge.
They also made bikes and motorcycles, which I think is kinda funny.
