6 Popular 'Luxury' Products That Are Based On An Absurd Lie

All those little tricks are peachy-keen with the EPA, who rarely cracks down on even the most blatant lies. Given an inch, manufacturers have taken a mile that turns out to actually only be a half-mile, as the difference between advertised and actual mpg has grown from an average of 7 percent in 2001 to 23 percent in 2011.

Fuel-efficient hybrids aren't immune to this chicanery either. Consumer Reports ran tests where they did the unthinkable -- used public streets and ran the air conditioner. On average, hybrids fell 28 percent short of mpg "estimates," because the real hybrid in the car world is the one between truth and fiction. We're not saying buying a hybrid is a bad idea if you want to save the world and feel smug about it, but remember that when you look at the estimated mpg you should round down. Like, a lot. Then subtract some more. Then remember that it's even less than that.

The common wisdom is that the higher a bedsheet's thread count, the more comfortable it is. A 200-count sheet is akin to sleeping on a bed of spiky garbage, while a count of 1,000 is like being cradled to Buddha's bosom on a cloud made of nirvana. But it's impossible to fit 1,000 normal-sized bedsheet threads on a loom, so inferior threads are used -- to the detriment of your wallet and comfort of your ass. Anything above 400 threads isn't possible unless you use thinner, "lower-quality cotton" that some might refer to as "orphan grade." These weaker strands are twisted together but counted individually, which is like saying you get 1,000 pebbles instead of 200 jewels.

According to the professional bullshit detectors at Consumer Reports, a 280-thread count is best for a good night's sleep, with even a single thread beyond that wasted on your precious skin. But that doesn't stop J.C. Penney from selling 1,200-thread-count sheets for 95% more than 300-count sheets from the same manufacturer to capitalize on consumers who live like blue collar workers but want to sleep like oil tycoons.

But what about sheets that use Egyptian cotton, the softest of all raw bedding materials? Is the inflated price justified then? Wrapping yourself up in Egyptian cotton is said to be like spooning the Sandman himself, but manufacturers slap the label on sheets that are massively overpriced blends with only a small percentage of the pure, uncut white stuff. So yeah, high-end sheet manufacturers are no better than your neighborhood drug dealer.

Marketers know we love big numbers, so instead of hyping up actual statistics, they decide what the numbers should be and then get the engineers to MacGyver them into existence. So the calculations used for hardware statistics vary between manufacturers, making it impossible to compare rival TVs. Take contrast ratio. It measures the difference between how bright and how dark your display can get, but those outrageous numbers can't be reproduced outside of a test lab. The fabulous contrast ratio that convinced you to buy won't draw out the details of your homemade sex tape -- you'll just notice a contrast on your credit card bill, before and after.

Although it has become synonymous with ultra-tasty beef for hamburger connoisseurs, Black Angus refers to a common, non-spectacular breed of cattle. It's actually the most popular beef breed in the United States. So the odds are good that the meat used for McDonald's $5 Angus burger is the exact same used in their dollar-menu cheeseburgers, with the only difference being the presentation, marketing, and amount of disgust you feel at yourself for eating at McDonald's.

Not every beef cow is created equal, so in 1978 the American Angus Association established the "Certified Angus Beef" brand to seek out the most delicious Angus beef, because goddammit, this is America -- the entire reason we fought the British for independence was because of their subpar beef imports. Probably.

The association's standards are so high that less than 2 percent of all cattle becomes branded with Certified Angus Beef's Prime label. But that top-of-the-line beef was marketed so well that the average carnivore now associates all things Black Angus with the most sensuous of hot beef injections, regardless of whether or not it's certified. It's like saying you're a quarterback who led the league in touchdowns, while neglecting to mention that the league was in NFL Blitz 2000.

Beats isn't alone in using the weight-equals-quality gimmick, because on some level we still judge our purchases like they're a hunk of meat we need to live off of. You probably know Monster Cables from when you went to Best Buy and a desperate salesman tried to give you a good laugh. Monster's HDMI cables are bigger, blacker, thicker and all-around sexier, promising to deliver "lightning-fast 4K" because only their cables prevent the common problem of data getting clogged in the pipeline by constricted bandwidth. Well, that makes sense because data works just like a sewer, right?

If you've set up anything more complicated than a toaster, you'll recognize those claims as Certified Angus Beef quality bullshit. But a surprising amount of people fall for them, mostly folks who can no longer access the Internet because their entire screen is covered in novelty toolbars. Despite Monster's insistence, it doesn't matter if your HDMI cables are thick and black or small and white (heh), because HDMI cables have no signal loss -- they're either working or they're not. Monster Cables are less necessary than a solid gold butt plug, with their obscene 80 percent markup serving only to trick consumers who think size matters. It doesn't, just like we've been telling our dates for years.

These people are all about trying to sell you snake oil. Check out 5 Ways Hi-Tech Retailers Are Secretly Screwing You and see how most are selling the same exact products, just at different prices. Or read 5 Reasons Tech Companies Make Bad Gadgets (An Inside Look) to see why these products aren't even designed for you.

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