Thoughts?
I think its important to consider what Marketing is. When you engage in marketing practices, you're essentially asking, "how can I dress this up so that it is attractive to potential buyers?"
In my opinion, good marketing is very simple, and one in which the product does the talking. You see it, you know exactly what it does, and that’s all that’s needed for me to choose whether I’d like to purchase the product. Anything beyond that, I would consider devious. So actually, most ads and marketing I run across I consider devious, and that’s because they are promising more than what is shown, but they don’t deliver on those extra promises!
For example, look at a Shaving Razor for men’s faces. Most of an ad you see on TV is selling you a variety of things like Happiness, Comfort, temporary feelings Luxury perhaps, confidence, good looks etc. In reality, they want you to buy their razor, but they cannot deliver on whether you will feel those things after you shave. They are deceiving you into believing that you will feel those things if you shave with their product, but there’s no guarantee is there! So that’s devious marketing, which is just about all marketing nowadays.
When it comes to the terms “ADHD” put on anything at all, it is already devious, right from the start. That’s because by adding those terms, the marketer is playing to those things which the person suffering from ADHD might want most. So they are holding the assumption (that we all seem to make when it conveniences us) is that there is a common cause for why people suffer from ADHD. However the truth is far from that. We don’t fully know why we suffer from ADHD, if we did we’d have already figured it out. Moreover, every single person has a unique genetic predisposition, which essentially means everyone has a unique experience of the disorder. Remember, no two persons with ADHD has the same set of prescriptions either! It is a whole trial to get the dosage and correct meds, and that’s because the person’s brain is unique! So there is an implication that marketer knows you and understand you because of the label, but it is not so! It is not possible for someone to know you (until they actually meet you)! Hence the deceit!
So anyone that presumes to know what is good for you, by slapping on the name ADHD on a label, and then offering a set of solutions for generic symptoms, but for who’s causes are unique to the individual, is deceiving you. They are tapping on to what's in important to you (an identify which you hold dear), and using that to attract your attention. Whether their product or service does what it claims to do, that's a different question.
So here’s where things get grim: There are whole industries that thrive on people’s misfortune of suffering through ADHD. The deceit of these industries is basically that they offer bandaid solutions for those cravings which are generated as consequence of suffering from ADHD. As an example, people with ADHD might be especially frustrated at their lack of “Success”, “Productivity” “Comforts” etc.. So just to name a few things they might be desiring: “Success, more productivity, ease of thinking” etc. A good marketing person will tap into those feelings or desires or pains. They will offer those things, in much the same way that the razor promises happiness or confidence, but they will never directly address the underlying cause. Its kind of like when a person tries to sell you coffee for better mornings, but actually what you really need is to improve your quality of sleep. So this to me is very devious kind of marketing because it relies on that type of suffering in order to increase one’s sales.
Mind you, not all companies or marketers are devious in that regard. Everyone has good intention, and they want to help out in whatever way they can or know how.