1. What do these words mean in the context of packaging and advertis¬ing? What words do advertisers sometimes use in place of "new"?
2. Lutz addresses the reader as "you" throughout the essay. Why do you think he writes in the second person? How does this choice affect his main point and the essay's overall effectiveness?
3. connections Compare Lutz's "weasel words" with the various techniques in Donna Woolfolk Cross's "Propaganda: How Not To Be Bamboozled" (p. 71). According to her, "propaganda works by trick¬ing us, by momentarily distracting the eye while the rabbit pops out from beneath the cloth" (par. 2). Does the misleading language in Lutz's essay fit into any of Woolfolk Cross's categories? Evaluate "weasel words" as propaganda.
4. Lutz gives a quiz within his essay to test our awareness of tag lines, slogans, and doublespeak in advertising. Choose an advertisement- online, in a magazine, on television-and examine its language.
Does it contain "weasel words"? What do they mean? Is the ad misleading or deliberately ambiguous? If the advertisement contains images, do they trick us, or redirect our attention from the product?