Word: hucksterish
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...religion has been dogged by criticism since its inception. The Church of Scientology’s vocal detractors have called it a cult of personality and a hucksterish pyramid scheme. Former members have accused the religion of harassment and extortion, in some cases filing legal suits. Some European countries, including Germany, do not recognize Scientology as a religion. And a 1980 “Reader’s Digest” article quotes Hubbard as saying, “If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion...
...past. Not surprisingly, other aggrieved vegetable and meat producers are lining up to sue. The nation's second food-disparagement suit, also to be tried in Amarillo, pits emu farmers against the Honda car company. The farmers say the emu was slammed by a commercial featuring a hucksterish emu rancher who promotes the ostrich-like bird as "the pork of the future." The ad never calls emu meat unsafe, but Fort Worth attorney John Scott says its portrayal of the birds as disreputable has dealt his clients a hard blow. In these litigious times, insult an ugly, flightless...
...surprising just how far things have come. We're well beyond such hucksterish practices as the renaming of San Francisco's Candlestick Park as 3Com Park and Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium as Cinergy Field after corporate sponsors. That's pure commercialism that helps pay for stratospheric ballplayer salaries and gives companies gigantic billboards. Backing social causes, on the other hand, moves corporations onto a moral plain. You may not like profit-minded ceos deciding which charities get all the loot. But in an era of shrinking government responsibility for the welfare of its citizens, somebody has to pick...
...City Federal Savings and Loan Association, the nation's 25th largest thrift institution, has nearly tripled its second-mortgage portfolio, to $118 million, during the year. United Jersey Bank, a leading commercial bank lender in the state, has been trying to expand its loan business with hucksterish newspaper ads that advise readers: "Go ahead. Add a room, take a trip, pay old bills, with money from home...
...fantastic prices a rare model can command are attracting some hucksterish high jinks. A recent full-page ad in the New York Times offered his-and-her Phantom V Rolls-Royce limousines, custom-built by the famed James Young Coachworks, for $250,000. Five years ago, one of the cars was sold for only $8,000 to a dealer by an eccentric Maryland horse breeder who used the car as a hay wagon. The market is glutted with high-priced limousines that were supposedly once owned by Hitler. Most of these, the experts say, are fake...