At some point, a daily walk quietly turned into a performance review.

A buzz on your wrist. A glowing ring. A number that decides whether today “counts.”

In this episode, we unpack how ten thousand steps became the world’s most accepted fitness goal, despite never being rooted in science. What began as a 1960s marketing idea evolved into a global wellness rule that now lives on smartwatches, corporate challenges, insurance incentives, and personal guilt.

We trace the origin of the ten thousand-step myth, explore what research actually says about walking and health, and examine why round numbers are so effective at shaping behavior.

This is not about walking less. It is about understanding how a marketing idea became a moral benchmark.

Welcome to Lies We Bought.
They sold it. We bought it. Now we’re unpacking it.

If this episode resonates, follow the show and leave a review. It helps new listeners find the podcast and supports independent storytelling.

Have you ever wondered how three simple words ended up on millions of walls, mugs, wedding signs, and kitchen shelves without anyone really remembering when they agreed to it?

This episode explores how “Live Laugh Love” became one of the most successful pieces of modern décor, not because it was profound, but because it was comforting. What began as a thoughtful early-1900s essay quietly transformed into a cultural shorthand for optimism, warmth, and emotional safety and eventually into a multi-billion-dollar home décor machine.

This is the real story behind how inspirational language turns into product, identity, and habit.

We start with the original source. Long before it was stitched into pillows or printed in cursive, “Live Laugh Love” was part of a reflective essay written by Bessie Anderson Stanley in the early 1900s. Her words were never meant to decorate homes. They were meant to describe a meaningful life.

From there, we trace how the phrase was shortened, simplified, and absorbed into American culture as inspirational sayings became easier to reproduce, easier to sell, and easier to place inside the home.

Then we examine the moment retailers realized something important. People like words in their homes. Especially words that feel gentle, familiar, and emotionally reassuring. “Live Laugh Love” fit perfectly into a time when adulthood felt unstable, expensive, and overwhelming, and homes became places of emotional refuge rather than status display.

We break down the psychology behind why the phrase worked so well. Why the brain loves short rhythmic patterns. Why verbs feel activating even when you are standing still. Why familiar language feels truthful. And why symbols often stand in for the version of ourselves we are trying to become.

We also look at the business side. The rise of word-based décor, the brief attempts to trademark “Live Laugh Love,” the explosion of wall art, wedding signage, craft markets, and big-box retail, and how comfort quietly became one of the most reliable selling strategies of the 2000s.

This episode is not about judging taste or mocking trends. It is about understanding why so many people reached for comforting words during uncertain times and how marketing learned to scale that instinct into an industry.

Once you understand how meaning, emotion, and commerce intertwine, you start seeing décor differently.

Welcome to Lies We Bought.
They sold it. We bought it. Now we’re unpacking it.

If this episode resonates, follow the show and leave a review. It helps new listeners find the podcast and supports independent storytelling.

Have you ever wondered why certain colors make you feel calm, hungry, energized, or strangely loyal to a brand you have never thought twice about? This episode explores how color became one of the most powerful psychological tools in marketing, shaping your reactions long before you realize you are reacting at all.

This is the real story behind why red feels urgent, why blue feels trustworthy, why green feels healthy, and why entire industries spend millions testing shades the average person cannot even tell apart. The influence did not begin with branding departments or ad executives. It began with history, symbolism, and centuries of emotional meaning long before modern marketing existed.

We start with early civilizations, where color signaled identity, power, divinity, and survival. From Egyptian symbolism to Chinese hierarchy, Greek perception theories, Roman luxury, medieval iconography, and Renaissance emotion, color carried purpose long before it carried price tags.

Then we move into the scientific era, where Newton turned color into measurable light, and Goethe argued that color was an emotional experience. Their work shaped every design system that still guides brands today.

From there, we trace how advertisers, psychologists, and corporations transformed color into a behavioral shortcut. Tech companies rely on blues that signal safety and trust. Fast food chains use warm colors that stimulate hunger and urgency. Wellness brands use greens that imply purity whether the product earns it or not. Luxury houses use black and white to signal power, restraint, and elevated identity. Nothing is arbitrary. Every shade is chosen for effect.

We also look at how stores, packaging, apps, and even notification dots use color to influence movement, appetite, choice, and impulse. These cues show up everywhere from grocery aisles to home decor aisles to the “add to cart” button on your phone.

This episode is not about telling you what color to like. It is about understanding how emotion, culture, and strategy weave together to shape belief, preference, and behavior.

Your instincts are wiser than any palette a company selects. Once you see the patterns, you cannot unsee them.

Welcome to Lies We Bought.
They sold it. We bought it. Now we are unpacking it.

If this episode resonates, follow the show and leave a review. It helps new listeners discover it and supports independent storytelling.

Have you ever wondered how drinking water became a moral achievement? How something as simple as thirst turned into a wellness routine, a personality trait, and a daily metric to prove you are doing life correctly? This episode unpacks how hydration went from a biological need to a cultural identity.

Everywhere you look, someone is carrying a water bottle the size of a toddler. Smart lids. Chug timers. Color-coded jugs whispering encouragement like we are training for a marathon we never signed up for. Hydration is no longer a habit. It is an aesthetic, a ritual, and in some circles, a quiet competition.

This is the real story behind why so many of us grew up hearing that we need eight glasses of water a day. The idea did not begin with wellness influencers. It did not begin with science. It began with wartime nutrition policy, marketing pressure, and a country desperate for rules that felt safe.

We start in 1945, when the U.S. Food and Nutrition Board issued the recommendation that later became known as 8×8. The original guidance included all fluids and most foods, but somewhere along the way the nuance disappeared. A calculation meant for survival became a commandment for civilians, reprinted in magazines, taught in schools, and repeated for decades without a traceable study behind it.

From there, we follow the rise of bottled water. A category that once felt laughable transformed into a status symbol, marketed with promises of purity, performance, and perfection. Evian sold luxury. Perrier sold nightlife. SmartWater sold identity. A free resource became a premium product. A penny’s worth of tap water became a multibillion-dollar industry.

We also explore how hydration became performative. The rise of wellness apps, Stanley drops, motivational jugs, and WaterTok trends turned drinking water into content, routine, and reward. The same behavioral cues once shaped by cereal ads now show up in refill culture and influencer routines. Different tools. Same emotional triggers.

And beneath it all, there is a quieter story. Public trust in tap water eroded as pipes aged, fountains disappeared, and brands positioned themselves as the safer choice. Fear became profitable, and hydration became a consumer experience rather than a civic guarantee.

This episode is not about telling you how much to drink. It is about understanding how belief is shaped, repeated, and sold. Hydration should not feel like a moral scoreboard. It should feel like balance.

Drink when you are thirsty. Pause when you are not. Your body already knows what it needs. The marketing is what made us forget.

Welcome to Lies We Bought.
They sold it. We bought it. Now we are unpacking it.

If this episode resonates, follow the show and leave a review. It helps new listeners find it and supports independent storytelling.

Have you ever wondered how breakfast became a moral obligation, something you were taught you should eat to be a good and healthy person? This episode explores how cereal companies, early wellness movements, and strategic public relations turned breakfast into a cultural belief worth billions.

This is the real story behind why so many of us grew up hearing that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. The idea did not begin with science or nutrition. It began with marketing.

We start in the late 1800s at Dr. John Harvey Kellogg’s sanitarium, where food was treated as a path to purity, discipline, and moral control. From there, we follow the rise of cereal, the shift to sugary convenience foods, and the emotional advertising that linked breakfast to identity, family, and success.

We also look at Edward Bernays, the public relations strategist who used psychology and manufactured authority to sell bacon and eggs to America. His work changed how we trust experts and how we decide what is “healthy” or “correct.”

The playbook continued into the modern wellness era. Influencers, product claims, curated morning routines, and aesthetic meal prep follow the same behavioral cues that once came from cereal ads. Different tools, same emotional triggers.

This episode is not about telling you what to eat. It is about understanding how belief is shaped, repeated, and sold.

Eat when you are hungry. Skip it when you are not. Your body is wiser than any marketing campaign.

Welcome to Lies We Bought.
They sold it. We bought it. Now we are unpacking it.

If this episode resonates, follow the show and leave a review. It helps new listeners discover it and supports independent storytelling.

They sold it. We bought it. Now we’re unpacking it.

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”“Live. Laugh. Love.”“Ten thousand steps.”“Diamonds are forever.”

We grew up believing these lines were truth, but they were marketing.

Lies We Bought is a narrative storytelling and cultural analysis podcast that explores how billion-dollar campaigns, catchy slogans, and pop culture myths shaped the way we live, shop, and see ourselves. It blends marketing psychology, history, and storytelling to uncover how everyday beliefs were built and sold to us.

From wellness trends to home decor mantras, we dig into the slogans that sold us serenity, success, and self-worth, and the emotional marketing that made them stick.

Because sometimes, the biggest lies are not the ones we are told. They are the ones we keep buying.

This one-minute teaser gives you a first listen inside the world of Lies We Bought, where nostalgia meets marketing and storytelling meets truth.

Launching November 2025.New episodes every other week.Follow now before the next lie drops.

If you love Offline with Jon Favreau, Work Appropriate, The Dream, or Marketing Made Simple, you will love Lies We Bought, a show for millennial women who love stories, strategy, and a little skepticism.