"full self-driving"

• "Up to..." when used to describe things like internet speeds
• "Wholesome" when used to describe food. Not really a lie, per se, but "wholesome" has absolutely no meaning when it comes to nutrition and just sounds good
• "Zero calories" or 0 grams of [blank] in the nutrition information. The regulations let them round down if it's less than 1 ~~gram~~ standard unit of measurement for that item (edited from grams).
• Any time you see "free" there's always at least an implied asterisk

Stainless steel. Because the common understanding of stainless is not what the stainless in stainless steel means.

Organic foods. Obviously this varies by location, but there are no universally standardized and enforced definitions of what it means to be organic that it comes close to being meaningless. You'd be surprised at what "organic" growers can get away with.

Genuine leather. It's so misleading it's pretty easy to argue that it's essentially a lie.

20% off. When it's the same cost as it was last month, you just upped the price, then put it on sale, so that in the end it evens out.

"Up to"

It is a company's often-used and workaround way of saying "we're not promising you shit" right upfront. If an ISP decides to give you 20MBps and they say 'up to' 50? Guess what, you're getting that variable 20 - 35 at best connection, not the full 50 or even 49.

Any value that a company puts those two words up against, always expect you're getting lesser than advertised. It's a subtle sneaky bullshit lie that is right infront of your face.

"We respect your privacy"

No artificial flavors

"Natural" and "artificial" flavors are determined by how they're made/obtained, not by what the ingredient itself is. You can have the same ingredient labeled as either artificial or natural.

Calorie free. Fat free. Sodium free, etc.

Just means that it has less than a specific threshold of the item per serving. And their servings are often arbitrarily small enough in order to conveniently miss that threshold

I'm looking at you, Tic Tacs

Labeling that says “Made with xxxxx” for example “Made with 100% all white chicken!” ‘WITH’ is the key word here. The item might be only 3% chicken and 97% other junk, but that 3% of chicken is 100% all white! This isnt just food items, could be cleaning supplies, or a lot of other things too. ‘Made of xxxx’ could be better, or ‘Made 100% with/of’….

"Unlimited"

A "family size" bag of Doritos is not sized for a family. Or I on my own count as a family.

"Military Grade" is not the flex that civilians think it is.

Cage-free eggs. Chickens were probably still tortured and crammed on top of each other in a barn. Look for certified humane.

Edit: himane to humane. Spell check refuses to let me make the typo intentionally, but let it slip through the initial post. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Chocolate

In the states, you have to watch for phrases like chocolatey or chocolate flavored. If you see those, it is 0% real chocolate. Even our minimum standard for actual real chocolate (I think 35% cocao) is a joke.

"24 hour odor protection" in deodorants.

"No preservatives" - Sugar is a preservative. Salt is a preservative. Vinegar is a preservative. Lemon juice is a preservative.

"Sugar-free" - but they add alternative sweeteners that have a range of other health issues associated with them.

"Cholesterol-free" - I once saw this on a juice container and had a laugh.

What people don't realise is that with food formulation, what you take out, you have to put something back in to replace it. A low/no sugar product will likely be higher in something else like fat to make it a palatable product.. So labels make claims on some things, but will purposely not mention the others.

I cry everytime

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Lifetime* Waranty

* For the life of the product

"Waterproof" phones

*not covered by warranty

so it's a lie

"biodegradable". For PLA Plastics, they are only biodegradable under commercial composting environments (CNC Kitchen made a video about it). For other things, I think it is mostly the same (CBC Made a video on this too (they looked at plastic alternatives though, and the duration of their testing was a bit short))

Not so much a lie but jumping on the bandwagon. A lot of traditional products that never had gluten in them to begin with now show "Gluten Free!" on the label, as if they did something good for you rather than simply redesigning a product label.

"Greatest country in the world."

"Our roll of toilet paper is equivalent to 234 rolls of our competitor's toilet paper!!!1"

Made with 100% chicken breast.

The chicken in this product is 95% scraping from carcasses, connective tissue and skin. But the 5% of it that's actually breast meat is 100% chicken breast meat.

Environmentally friendly

Biodegradable

Where it just turns in to smaller and smaller pieces of plastic until it's tiny enough to enter your bloodstream

Hypo-allergenic

There is no such technical term. It is all marketing.

I have been conditioned to think of "Free & Clear" as having no coloring or nasty scents added and then I come across this and was duped

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"Sugar free" on things that are mostly sugar because the serving size given isn't great enough to overcome a rounding down to zero.

PFAS-free. There is just another similar chemical in it that hasn't been regulated yet.

15 minutes could save you 15% or more. Not will, could. We already knew that it had to be either greater than, less than, or equal to 15% because that covers everything

“New and improved”. How is it both?

Machine Washable...

...exactly three times before it disintegrates

"No tears" is just a play on the English language. It doesn't mean your eyes won't tear up and let water out, it means your hair won't tear into pieces.

"Dust-free" cat litter.