Truthful Science in Ads

We see the numbers from “scientific studies” all the time in advertising. We hear that Dettol kills 99.9% of germs. We hear that toothpaste will make your teeth 5 shades whiter. The problem with these studies is that they are secret, and not available to be viewed by the public. There is a good reason for this – they aren’t real science. The “shades whiter” is not measured with any instruments, but rather it is the impression a few people who received free products had. Dettol is as effective as hot soapy water. And the 0.1% of germs it won’t kill… they won’t say.

The solution is simple – all scientific claims used in advertising should be presented to a government body, which will consider removing any parts of the study that are commercially sensitive. All such studies would be publicly available on a single site for ease of access.