In describing products, there is a natural tension between accuracy and exaggeration. It behooves us to be as enthusiastic as possible about a product while, at the same time, too great a departure from reality is likely to make the consumer suspicious, or worse yet interested but for the wrong reasons, leading to clicks with no sales. It’s a good idea to understand that there are many forms of enthusiasm and to use or avoid them consciously rather than fall into them accidentally. The realms of rhetoric and logic have made a very careful study of the subject, but oddly enough, by far the best source I have ever come across is a marvelous little book called Historians' Fallacies : Toward a Logic of Historical Thought – what follows is largely drawn from this source:
The fallacy of many questions involves the idea of asking questions without answering them. You pose a whole series of puzzlers providing the impression that you have really thought in depth about the area under discussion. You are of course under no obligation to answer any of the questions.
The fallacy of false dichotomies is where you propose two positions; one being the one you want to promote the other being something that you know has a fatal flaw in it. You demolish the flawed alternative leaving the customer with no choice on the table other than the one you want to see adopted.
The fallacy of metaphysical questions involves solving a non-empirical problem by empirical means.
The fallacy of fictional questions involves the neat device of asking a question about some situation you invented. You phrase the question and the situation in such a way that you know the answer will favor your position.
The fallacy of semantical questions involves confusing actual happenings with descriptions of actual happenings. There is a wonderful illustration of this in an interaction between Alice and the White Knight in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass.
“You are sad,” the Knight said in an anxious tone: “let me sing a song to comfort you…. The name of the song is called ‘Haddock’s Eyes.’”
“Oh, that’s the name of the song, is it?” Alice said, trying to feel interested.
“No, you don’t understand,” the Knight said, looking a little vexed. That’s what the name is called. The name really is ‘The Aged Aged Man.’”
“Then I ought to have said ‘That’s what the song is called’?” Alice corrected herself.
“No, you oughtn’t: that’s quite another thing! The song is called ‘Ways and Means’: but that’s only what it’s called you know!”
“Well what is the song then?” said Alice who was by this time completely bewildered.
“I was coming to that.” The Knight said. “The song really is ‘A-sitting On A Gate’: and the tune’s my own invention.”
We should think carefully about how products are described, categorized and labeled as there are numerous and sometimes very subtle pitfalls and opportunities in these things.

