Unspun Example- "Weasel Words"- AT&T commercial

Robert, I like that you looked into this a little more because the same claim rather startled me. I like how you showed the 97% was misunderstood. Thanks for your post. I will see you right now when I turn around.

Hey Bert.  I have never realized that this is what the 97 percent REALLY means, valid point.  This is a great example of weasel words.  Where did you find this information anyway?

 robertg,

This is a perfect example of "UnSpun's 'Literally True Falsehood.'" In saying they cover "97% of all Americans", they are telling the truth, but giving the impression to the viewer that 97% of all Americans use AT&T, and that they should get on board.  They can use vague or misleading statements like this to encourage more people to purchase their product to make more profit.  I've seen this commercial before, but have for some reason always missed the view of Earth from outer space they show at the end of the commercial, suggesting that there coverage extends even beyond the reaches of "all Americans" into covering "97% of all people".  This was very revealing of a commercial that I never thought to be particularly inaccurate. Thanks for your post and I look forward to your next.

Matt

Robert, I saw this also and thought it was really high considering there are at least three other giant cell phone companies. This ad would be saying that they would only share 3% of the American Population, and that isn't true. Good example.