Kevin Martinez Deception in Business: A legal Perspective
This article about deception in business challenged my way of thinking about lying and
telling the truth in business. I learned that some actions are condemned by the law such as
Deceptive Nondisclosure and Misrepresentation, and that other misstatements such as
“Puffery” can’t be put under legal pursuit. This article taught me that deception is
frequently actionable at law, while misstatements that fall into puffery are not actionable.
Through the class discussion we talked about different types of organizations that used
puffery. For example people involved in sales or advertising use puffery. This article
helped me associate puffery with the “art” of bluffing. I believe that these two have a lot in
common since they can be used as a game strategy for their business. Although I
considered them are both to be morally and ethically incorrect, but not punishable the law.
The other terms that were discussed in the article didn’t really have much effect on my line
of reasoning. I believe that any type of fraud should be punishable. As a former vitamin
and mass protein sales associate, I would make sure to disclose all of the information about
the products to customers. This was to prevent any problems with the customer and with
my job as well.
This article certainly gave me a focus on how the legal perspective of deception in
business. It provided me with important information about how unethical
misrepresentation can be. It also challenged my train of thought as I was able to apply
previously learned terms from past readings. I have learned from these readings and class
discussions more about what is ethical and unethical in business.