When Musk used actors in robot suits or demoed remote-controlled robots without admitting they weren’t real, I was genuinely confused. As a Brit, I wonder—is this just accepted in the U.S. as harmless fun, even if it's misleading?
It’s like those American sports halftime shows where “random” crowd members do weird things, but they’re clearly actors. Most people don’t notice, and those who do don’t seem to care.
In Europe, that kind of deception feels like a red flag. We expect clear boundaries: either something’s a concept, a prototype, or a finished product. Pretending it’s real erodes trust.
TL;DR:
Is American marketing more comfortable with blurring reality, while European marketing prioritizes transparency?
Because Tesla did and got away with it.
> Is American marketing more comfortable with blurring reality?
Yes. It's in our culture, for better or worse, I mean, worse. Like solardev commented, our culture doesn't really mind being lied to on the regular.
Everyone lies to us: politicians on both sides of the aisle, the media, even our schools.
And yes, it's weird. If you want to escape it, you work toward developing high agency and violating norms and rules (and hopefully, not harming others).