When I thought of where one may find misleading statistics, I immediately recalled the many magazines I would flip through at Barnes & Noble while sipping a hot, sweet treat. I no longer
subscribe to magazines nor do I visit my favorite bookstore and flip through magazines.  My life is way too busy these days.
As an elementary visual arts teacher, I have tons of magazines that nice folks save for me.  They are quite versatile in the art room! Upon looking up at the stack of magazines, I felt a bit overwhelmed. Would I be searching for hours looking for the perfect ad that exemplifies misleading statistics?  Within thirty seconds of opening the first periodical, I found my first example!   

Exhibit A
Does your home have hard water?  Well, does it? I am not sure myself but the above Morton ad reads that 85% of American households have hard water.  That's a pretty high percentage.  I do not recall participating in this research.  Did you participate?  

Questions I have for Morton:
1. How did you arrive at 85%?
2. What sample was used to gather your data?
3. What instrument was used?
4. Where is your evidence?
5. Who stands to profit from this ad?  Who or what is really behind this ad? Morton, are you trying to  🤔sell something?

Key signs of hard water?
1. Dry skin and tangled hair.
    I have dry skin, especially in the winter. Does this mean that I only have hard water in the winter?
2. Laundry feels rough
3. Dishes have spots
    I can attest to #2 and #3. Growing up, I experienced these.  We had hard water due to lime.
4. Build up in the shower:
    Perhaps you are not cleaning with the correct product. 
   
The entire ad misleads the consumer with an arbitrary number, catchy graphics, and photographs.
I must give them credit for the nice science lesson and graphics used to visually pull in the consumer. Look at the happy families! They are apparently the 15% that has soft water. If I cannot relate to these pictures, then apparently, I am in the 85%.

According to Huff (1954), "Look for conscious bias.  The method may be direct misstatement or it may be ambiguous statement that serves as well and cannot be convinced" (Huff, 1954, p. 123). 
63 years later, this still holds true. 

For the sake of argument, I'll give Morton the benefit of the doubt as to how they calculated the 85%.  A legitimate quantitative method of data collection (survey?) was used.  Descriptive statistics summarized the sample which led to the inferential statistics  (inferring the entire population based on the descriptive statistic).   Sound good?  I thought so!   👌 

References

DOES YOUR HOME HAVE HARD WATER? [Advertisement]. (2017, February). Good

             Housekeeping. 

Huff, D.  (1954).  How to lie with statistics.  Retrieved from http://www.horace.org/blog/wp-          

             content/uploads/2012/05/How-to-Lie-With-Statistics-1954-Huff.pdf

Exhibit B

Who doesn't like a good challenge? Have you taken the Ford challenge? 

The bar graph displays categories of attractiveness, fun to drive, performance, and handling.

After a test drive, 400 people scored the Fusion the highest in each category.  
Looking at the graph, the Camry comes in a close second in attractiveness. It appears there is only a 25 point difference.  Winning is winning right?  Did Ford really win the challenge?

Is this bar graph misleading? YES! Do you see it? 👀 I had to really look closely and do a little digging.

Yes responses scored one point and no response scored zero.  

After adding up the Attractive category of what appears to be 249+225+180=654 is the sum.

If 250 said yes to the Fusion and 225 people say yes to the Camry, and 180 to the Accord, this is over the one point allotment for 400 people. The other categories follow suit.
There is definitely a misrepresentation of data.

Why does Ford "make" the Fusion appear to "win"?  Perhaps it did but I am not sure how they can justify the margin between 654 and 400 when each person was only allotted one point. 

Did Ford offer an incentive for those who gave Ford the one point for each category?
Who test drove the cars? There is no age presented on the graph.

This is a Ford ad and so it would be in their favor to mislead the consumer to promote their product.
Do you see it now?👀

Reference

Ford Challenge [Advertisement]. (2007, April 16). Newsweek, 59-59.