Lies of Grass

I like Gertens as much as the next gardener, but aside from the fact that this ad promotes weed killers in the first place (not my favorite, as you may recall from an earlier post), it is also just inherently misleading.

Part one of the misleading promise is in the headline: The weeds will be gone tomorrow. This is exaggerated -- the product actually promises "visible results" within 24 hours. Which means the weeds will be yellowing or looking a bit sickly tomorrow -- they won't be gone.

Part two of the misleading promise comes from the juxtaposition of the two photos. They imply that if you use Bonide Weed Beater Ultra, all of your creeping charlie and dandelions will be transformed into grass within 24 hours. This is by far the bigger lie, because (I've got news for you) there's no grass under those weeds, just dirt. With as many weeds as are shown in that picture, the grass would be totally shaded out.

So you'll kill all your weeds, and then be left with bare soil with maybe a few patches of grass. According to the Bonide website, you'll have to wait two weeks to reseed. Then wait for the seed to germinate and begin to grow, at least another couple of weeks... so at least a month, probably more like two before the grass begins to look anything like the grass in the ad's "after" photo.

I think a lot of homeowners already reach for the weedkiller when it's not really necessary. They don't need extra encouragement from exaggerated and false promises.