Deceptive Marketing Tactics

noun a person who commits scams or fraudulent acts

• The authorities warned the public about a scam artist who was targeting elderly individuals.
• I heard that there's a scam artist going around pretending to be a charity worker.
• Watch out for that scam artist, he's been conning people out of their money left and right.
• She's like a scam artist when it comes to manipulating people into doing what she wants.

noun a word that represents a person, place, thing, or idea

verb a word that expresses an action or a state of being

preposition a word that shows the relationship between a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence

article a word that specifies a noun as definite or indefinite

• It is futile to put lipstick on a pig, as the underlying issues remain unresolved.
• Trying to put lipstick on a pig won't make it any more appealing.
• No amount of lipstick can make that situation less of a pig.
• She tried to put lipstick on a pig by pretending everything was fine, but deep down she knew the truth.

noun a practice of masking the sponsors of a message or organization to make it appear as though it originates from and is supported by grassroots participants

• The company was accused of astroturfing by creating fake online reviews to boost their reputation.
• I heard that some companies are astroturfing on social media to make their products seem more popular.
• I can't believe they're astroturfing the internet just to sell more stuff.
• His constant bragging about his accomplishments felt like astroturfing his own ego.