This principle helps explain why people behave differently from what pure logic would predict.
More quotesTwo adverts want to say a car is a good investment.
The first says: “A smart investment.”
The second says last year the car outperformed 318 stocks.
One asks for belief. The other supplies material from which belief can be built.
Adjectives are cheap because they make no appointments with reality. Best, trusted, premium, revolutionary—each has been attached to yoghurt, broadband and software that forgets passwords. Puffery survives legal scrutiny by becoming so grand that sensible people should not take it literally. Commercially, being permitted because nobody should believe you is an odd triumph.
A fact accepts risk. Someone can inspect the period, comparison and resale figures. Precision can still mislead through selection or missing context, but it gives scepticism somewhere to land. That vulnerability creates weight.
The most persuasive evidence lets the reader complete the claim. “Fast” insists. A measured time demonstrates. “Popular” boasts. A count with a date allows judgement. The conclusion feels partly owned because the brand stopped shouting before reaching it.
If an adjective cannot be replaced with a number, demonstration, customer action or concrete comparison, perhaps there is only enthusiasm behind it.
The first car advert sounds confident. The second is willing to be checked.
Now add the period, comparison set and source beneath the 318-stock claim. If the fact survives those details, keep it. If it shrivels, the adjective was not the main problem.