[LittleBillyInfidel]

What drives me crazy is the over-use of the word “REAL”, in ad copy; especially the tired palilogy of “Real this. Real That. Real tiresome”. So called “Creatives” and Marketing Directors have been selling this one to their clients since 1994 - and it’s still being used today as if it’s actually unique and persuasive. Millions of unemployed, yet there are thousands in this industry who get paid for recycling each other’s crapola.

[firebrand]

Sometimes this is the colloquial use of the word "real" to mean "very." In rare instances, it's used to distinguish an ingredient from an imitation, as in "real chocolate."

Betty Furness, a former NYC consumer affairs person, used to point out that anything with a "-y" on the end of it signals an imitation--legally. In other words, if the sponsor says "buttery" it has no butter, "chocolatey" and it has no chocolate, "nutty" and it has no nuts.

A philosophy professor once commented on the overuse of "real" as an indication the missing sense of reality in our lives.