Episode notes
P.T. Barnum knew people would pay to see something questionable before they would ignore it completely. This One Minute What breaks down how controversy, curiosity, and the sunk cost fallacy work together to pull you in, and why once you have paid attention, your brain starts looking for ways to justify it. Because they do not need you to like it. They just need you to look.
Podcast
Lies We Bought
Emily Rask · Business · English
Lies We Bought is a podcast that traces advertising lies and marketing deception back to where they started. Host Emily Rask spent over a decade building marketing and advertising campaigns, and now she's reading the fine print out loud (think everything from "got milk?" to "clean beauty") to show h
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E18 · 9 Jun 2026 · 26 min
Seatbelt Laws: The Hidden Financial Motives Behind Car Safety
In 1993, North Carolina wrote four words on a sign and accidentally handed the federal government one of its most effective behavioral control tools in history. "Click It or Ticket" didn't try to convince you seatbelts were a good idea. It just changed the math. In this episode, we follow the full story: the 1959 invention of the three-point seatbelt by Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin, the patent Volvo gave away for free, Ralph Nader's 1965 book that forced the government to act, and the spectacular 1974 interlock failure that taught Washington that Americans would rather cut a seatbelt out of a…
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E17 · 2 Jun 2026 · 29 min
"Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner": The Slogan That Sparked a Federal Lawsuit
You've had that slogan in your head for thirty years. "Beef. It's What's For Dinner." Someone built it. Someone paid for it. And the story of who, and why, is way stranger than the commercials ever let on. In Episode 17, Emily traces how a mandatory dollar-per-head tax on every cattle sale in America built one of the most psychologically sophisticated ad campaigns in history, why small ranchers were legally forced to fund a message that undercut their own businesses, and how the U.S. Supreme Court eventually declared the whole thing was never an ad at all. It was government speech. We also…
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E16 · 26 May 2026 · 20 min
Vitamins & Supplements: Why They Don’t Need FDA Approval
People take supplements for energy, immunity, or because someone on TikTok said magnesium changed their life. The U.S. supplement industry is worth billions, yet many products reach store shelves without ever proving they actually work. This episode of Lies We Bought explores the legal loopholes that reshaped supplement regulation, and how marketing turned everyday pills into expensive wellness rituals. Take Your Supplements: • The 1994 law (DSHEA) that protected supplement companies • Major retailers caught selling fake vitamins and fillers • The truth about wellness trends like collagen…
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E15 · 19 May 2026 · 23 min
Firefighter Gear & Lululemon: The Same Poison Hiding in Our Clothes
PFAS, or "forever chemicals," have been hiding in plain sight for 80 years: in nonstick pans, fast food wrappers, stain-resistant furniture, and the turnout gear worn by first responders. Now they're under investigation in Lululemon clothing, and new research shows they may be slowing firefighters' cognitive function in real time. Host Emily Rask takes this one personally. Her husband Travis is a 20-year firefighter, and in this episode she traces the full story: from a 1938 DuPont lab to a $15 billion legal reckoning, from a West Virginia farmer's dying cattle to the Texas AG's 2026 civil…
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E14 · 12 May 2026 · 20 min
Wheaties: How Sports Marketing Invented a Healthy Illusion
For nearly a century, Wheaties convinced America that greatness could start with a bowl of cereal. This week on Lies We Bought, I open the cereal box on how “The Breakfast of Champions” became one of the most successful identity-marketing campaigns created. From accidental kitchen discoveries and failing sales to celebrity athletes, psychological conditioning, and the rise of sports endorsements, the orange box transformed itself into a cultural symbol of achievement. But behind the slogan was a much stranger story involving propaganda-level advertising tactics, celebrity influence, radio…
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E13 · 28 Apr 2026 · 19 min
Nike's "Just Do It": The Dark Serial Killer Origin of a Global Slogan
In 1977, a man faced a firing squad in a Utah state prison and said three words. A decade later, an ad man changed one of them and handed them to the entire world. In this episode I trace the full origin of the "Just Do It" campaign, from Phil Knight selling shoes out of a car trunk to the moment Dan Wieden pitched a line Knight famously called unnecessary. The emotional branding playbook, the Jordan deal that was three times the industry standard, the Banned campaign built around a rule Nike never actually broke, and the ecosystem trap that turns your running app into a shoe subscription…
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21 Apr 2026 · 1 min
THe Ogilvy Halo Effect | One-Minute What
David Ogilvy famously said, “The consumer is not a moron, she is your wife,” and that belief shaped how modern advertising earns trust and attention. This One Minute What breaks down the halo effect and how brands use subtle signals like style, tone, and positioning to create a high class perception that makes people feel comfortable paying more. Because once something looks premium, your brain starts filling in the rest.
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E12 · 14 Apr 2026 · 17 min
Low-Fat Conspiracy: The 1994 Food Industry Scam That Made America Sick
Somewhere along the way, we decided fat was the problem, and built an entire way of eating around that idea. This episode breaks down how that belief took hold, from early nutrition research to government policy to the food industry quietly reshaping what ended up on store shelves. Because what looked like a simple health shift turned into something much bigger, and a lot more profitable, than anyone realized at the time.
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7 Apr 2026 · 1 min
Listerine, Halitosis, & The Fake Health Crisis | One-Minute What
<p><strong>Your "morning routine" isn't a health choice - it's a series of manufactured solutions.</strong></p><p>In this episode of <em>One-Minute What</em>, we’re exposing <strong>Albert Lasker</strong>, the "Father of Modern Advertising" who realized that the easiest way to sell a product is to invent a problem first.Lasker didn't just meet consumer demand; he created <strong>shame</strong>. From turning floor cleaner into a cure for "Halitosis" to forcing orange juice onto your breakfast table to save a surplus crop, Lasker’s "Salesmanship…
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E11 · 31 Mar 2026 · 15 min
"Bigger is Better": The Secret History of the Corporate Supersize Strategy
<p><strong>You didn't want the Large fries. </strong></p><p>In this episode of <em>Lies We Bought</em>, we unpack the "Bigger is Better" business model. We explore the psychological traps that make "more" feel like the only rational choice, from fast food menus to the SUV loophole.</p><p><strong>Inside this episode:</strong></p><ul><li><strong>The Origin of "Large":</strong> How David Wallerstein invented the large fry to boost margins.</li><li><strong>The Decoy Effect:</strong> Why pricing tiers are designed to trick your brain into spending…
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