You've all seen it on billboards, heard it on the radio, watched them saying it on TV. You've come to accept it as an acceptable term. You've fallen for it, gone and bought their shampoo¹ and found it is exactly the same as it has always been.

That's right – it's 'new and improved'.

You see the advert and merrily you skip to your local shop, brimming with excitement and anticipation.

But wait!

What is it you're looking for again? Is it a new product or is it an improved version of a product you already loved? Nothing excites the consumer like an entirely original product, it entices you into a shop when you've no need to venture inside, just by its sheer newness. Alternatively if they've taken the stand-out shampoo² on the market and made it even better, well, you'd hardly be able to contain yourself³.

This is exactly the conundrum you find yourself in. Why? Because it's a big stinking lie.

Let's take a look at the Dictionary.com definitions of the words in use.

new nu, nyu
adjective, -er, -est, adverb, noun
1 - of recent origin, production, purchase, etc.; having but lately come or been brought into being: a new book.
2 - of a kind now existing or appearing for the first time; novel: a new concept of the universe.

im•prove – im'pruv
verb, -proved, -prov•ing.
verb (used with object)
1 - to bring into a more desirable or excellent condition: He took vitamins to improve his health.
2 – to make improvements, as by revision, addition, or change: None of the younger violinists have been able to improve on his interpretation of that work.

Is it really possible that something 'appearing for the first time' or 'having but lately come or been brought into being' can have already been made better? Surely, one must believe, that something has to exist before the clever people at the shampoo⁴ company can improve it. Then, we must conclude, what they mean is either new, or improved.

This is the great advertising fallacy. They promise you the best of both worlds, when in reality the adjustments to the original product are minuscule and cannot be noticed by the consumer; they've made the product healthy and therefore it tastes slightly less interesting than a mouth full of gravel⁵, or the product has gone green, and none of us really know what that means!

So there you have it. You're being tricked into parting with your hard-earned cash under entirely false pretences. You've been promised the earth, and the stars, and end up with a pale imitation.

To conclude, a final definition from Dictionary.com

de•cep•tion - di-sep-shun
– noun
1 - the act of deceiving; the state of being deceived
2 - something that deceives or is intended to deceive; fraud; artifice.