Lies We Bought

For a generation of kids, stranger danger was the first safety rule we ever learned. Don’t talk to strangers. Don’t take the candy. Don’t get in the van. But the panic behind it was built on statistics that didn’t hold up, and the people who spread them had more than safety on the line. In this episode, I follow stranger danger from 1950s classroom films to the milk carton kids of the 1980s, the reporting that exposed the numbers, the tracking apps that turned the fear into a business, and the true story of one boy who did everything he was taught. It’s a story about grief, media, and how a slogan can outlive the facts it was built on. Content warning: This episode discusses child abduction, the deaths of children, and child abuse. If you have information about a missing or exploited child, contact the CyberTipline at 1-800-843-5678 or report.cybertip.org.   📱 Follow along on: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LiesWeBought/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lieswebought/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lieswebought LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lieswebought Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lieswebought/    

Buy one, get one free sounds like the store is handing you a gift, but the second item has been tucked inside the price of the first one for over a century, and the Supreme Court said so in 1965. Emily Rask follows the word free from Coca-Cola’s first coupon and a paint company’s day in court to the SNL sketch that roasted Jos. A. Bank’s buy one, get three free suits, JCPenney’s failed attempt to take sales away from shoppers, and the MyPillow deal that never ended. Along the way she looks at the chocolate study that shows why free hits our brains harder than any discount, and she shares the pillow department where a dollar deal cost shoppers more than the Wednesday sale. 📩 Sign up for exclusive emails and behind-the-scenes on PATREON. 📱 Follow along on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LiesWeBought/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lieswebought/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lieswebought LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lieswebought Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lieswebought/  

In 1949, a man demonstrating a blender on Cleveland TV got more than 400 phone orders in one day, and As Seen on TV was born. This episode of Lies We Bought follows the infomercial from that live demo to the Ginsu knife, Billy Mays, the Snuggie, and the FTC cases that finally caught up with the biggest claims. Then we follow the pitch to where it lives now. QVC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2026 as shoppers moved to TikTok Shop, and the urgency of late-night TV followed them into the feed. Plus the trade court case that had to decide whether a Snuggie is a blanket or a robe. 📱 Follow along on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LiesWeBought/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lieswebought/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lieswebought LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lieswebought Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lieswebought/

Is laughter really the best medicine? In 1964, Norman Cousins checked out of the hospital, moved into a hotel room with a projector and a stack of Marx Brothers films, and became the man who laughed himself well. His story is still repeated everywhere, minus one detail that was in the room the whole time. In this episode, I follow the phrase from a biblical proverb about grief to a medieval surgeon's bedside orders, a Reader's Digest joke column, Patch Adams, and the rise of Laughter Yoga, paid certifications, humor consultants, and wellness apps. Along the way, I look at how toxic positivity turns burnout and chronic illness into an attitude problem. Then the science gets its turn, from a 2023 PLOS ONE meta-analysis on laughter and cortisol to Robin Dunbar's research on pain tolerance and a 2024 study on medical clowns in a children's hospital. The receipts hold up better than you might expect, and they still stop short of the word "best." I'm very much pro-laughing. This one is about who started charging for it. 📱 Follow along on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LiesWeBought/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lieswebought/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lieswebought LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lieswebought Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lieswebought/  

The Five Love Languages has sold millions of copies and shows up everywhere from first dates to therapists' offices, yet Gary Chapman built the framework from his own notes as a Baptist pastor counseling couples. This episode traces how the book became relationship gospel and what Focus on the Family has said about it. It also looks at why critics warn that treating a struggling relationship as a love problem can be dangerous for people in abusive situations, and where the framework can still help couples. 📱 Follow along on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LiesWeBought/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lieswebought/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lieswebought LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lieswebought Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lieswebought/