I’ve been noticing some ads on CNN this week, the thrust of which is “visit Poland for the amazing food here.”

These ads strike me as odd — and of limited effectiveness — because even if true, they’re not credible.

I have worked with Poland, I have been to Poland, and I live in London with about a zillion Poles. Over the last five years, I’ve had a few rather excellent Polish meals (the best of them involving chanterelle mushrooms). It’s hearty peasant stuff loaded with dill — fine if you’re in the mood, and you might be in the mood. But I would not say — and I have never heard anybody suggest, until these ads — that Polish food is one of the world’s great cuisines. No shame in this, but a fact’s a fact.

Now let’s suppose this fact is not a fact, and actually, Polish cuisine these days really is something special. Am I going to believe an ad that tells me something that directly contradicts my own perception, even if it is a misperception?

I might, but only if its conveyed to me with more artistry than this ad musters. Use a third party endorsement: tell me Jamie Oliver’s latest book is about Polish food, or that Warsaw has just gotten its sixth Michelin-starred restaurant. Or give me some facts that relate to a narrative I can tell myself about the Pole’s love of fine food — that even city-dwelling Poles can identify edible wild mushrooms, or that it was Poles who originally taught Belgians to make chocolate hundreds of years ago, or that there’s a new Polish fast-but-good-food chain specialising in gourmet pierogies (like a Polish version of Ping Pong, if you’re familiar with that establishment in Britain).

A last possible way of heading off a misperception is to acknowledge it outright, respect its presence heartily, and then declare it false or outdated. Say, in effect, “you’re not crazy to think this — no, no, not at all — but there is more to this story, you see.”

And consider not being earnest about it. Humour, and not taking yourself too seriously, is a sign of self-esteem and self-acceptance, which are attractive traits possessed by credible messengers; I feel like an amusing and fact-based ad that portrays Poles as eschewing borscht in favour of better, higher-brow stuff nowadays, might be more readily accepted than this straight, slick, and ultimately very standard CNN fare.