Lying...bah!

I knew Seth Godin had a blog. Great stuff, and just offbeat enough to keep me interested. But I didn't know he'd started another one based on the idea behind his newest book, here.
He's talking about lies in marketing, and doesn't seem to have short supply of them. I find this both depressing and refreshing. Depressing in that there's so much lying in modern marketing that blogs can track and display it in abundance. Refreshing in that blogs ARE tracking and displaying it, forming their own level of accountability, held by the very people the dishonest businesspeople are trying to fool.

Marketing has such a negative reputation, due in part to these underhanded tactics, that consumers usually take ALL marketing with a grain of salt by reflex. They assume the seller is trying to dupe them or lie automatically! How'd we let it get so bad?

Marketing is information. You're conveying reasons why some product or service is good quality, a good fit for who's being marketed to, and unique enough to warrant a customer's attention. If you have to resort to lying or duplicity, the problem's not with the consumer, buddy. It's with you. Shape up, or get into a profession that encourages lying. Hey, we always seem to need more politicians...