<p dir="ltr">The example RProfAL gave is advertising with so called weasel words, like a detergent that washes whiter than white, which is nonsense. He proceeded to suggest the focus group idea, and suggested that when push comes to shove, once people think about it, they see through many of these tricks, and then they would be permissible. The question is how focus groups would react on this case.</p>
<p dir="ltr">--<br>
mit freundlichen Grüßen,<br>
with kind regards,<br>
Arie Folger</p>
<p dir="ltr">visit my blog at <a href="http://ariefolger.wordpress.com/">http://ariefolger.wordpress.com/</a><br>
sent from my mobile device</p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Dec 12, 2012 8:21 PM, "Micha Berger" <<a href="mailto:micha@aishdas.org">micha@aishdas.org</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
On Wed, Dec 12, 2012 at 02:00:05PM +0100, Arie Folger wrote:<br>
: According to R' Prof Aaron Levine z"l, the way to definitely assess its<br>
: permissibility (feasible for large companies, but not harder for a<br>
: photography studio) is to have a focus group see the installation at work<br>
: and judge the package in comparison with that of another competitor. If the<br>
: practice is seen by enough people as mere advertisement, then it is<br>
: definitely not sheqer.<br>
<br>
I'm not sure what this means. "Mere advertisement"? It's not something<br>
that announces "ich bin du", it's something that creates the impression<br>
that more is being done to guarantee the perfect picture when in fact<br>
nothing more is being done.<br>
<br>
I would think the criterion would be if it's reasonable for someone<br>
(ie "enough people" in the focus group) to assume the quality is<br>
different. And I will for the moment assume that's what you're trying to<br>
describe here. (Rather than wait for RAF to reply, given our time-zone<br>
difference.)<br>
<br>
But then the question becomes moot. If he thought it's not common for<br>
people to assume that his doing better work because it looks like he's<br>
using more lighting equipment, he wouldn't be doing it. In terms of<br>
intent, he is /trying/ to do something my above guess at R/P AL's intent<br>
would deem a sin. And now the question is whether he is succeeding at<br>
actually sinning. He should stop either way.<br>
<br>
I wonder if we can deduce something relevent from SA CM 228:16.<br>
The SA discusses two cases of mixing crops into a single bin for sale.<br>
In general it is mutar. But if you make a point of creating a reputation<br>
that you buy everything from the good field, it's assur. Now for the<br>
deducing part: This is even though they can see the actual quality of<br>
the final product that they are buying, so the reputation of the source<br>
field shouldn't be relevant to the actual value or to any attributes<br>
someone might want to shop for.<br>
<br>
Tir'u baTov!<br>
-Micha<br>
<br>
--<br>
Micha Berger When faced with a decision ask yourself,<br>
<a href="mailto:micha@aishdas.org">micha@aishdas.org</a> "How would I decide if it were Ne'ilah now,<br>
<a href="http://www.aishdas.org" target="_blank">http://www.aishdas.org</a> at the closing moments of Yom Kippur?"<br>
Fax: <a href="tel:%28270%29%20514-1507" value="+12705141507">(270) 514-1507</a> - Rav Yisrael Salanter<br>
</blockquote></div>