Truth in advertising cost Claude Pepper an election
Apparently in the 1950’s Sen. Pepper of Florida was defeated for re-election largely due to a leaflet that was circulated throughout the state, and turned the voters against him.
It went as follows:
“Are you aware that Claude Pepper is known all over Washington as a shameless extrovert? He is also reliably reported to practice nepotism with his sister-in-law, and he has a sister who once was a thespian in Greenwich Village. He has a brother who is a practicing homo sapiens, and he went to a college where the men and women openly matriculated together. It is an established fact that Mr. Pepper before his marriage practiced celibacy. Worse than that, he has admitted to being a lifelong, autodidact.”
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