I wouldn't say people were 'conned' into buying cloth bags, hell no, a lot of people actually wanted them. I'd get asked about them from time to time, but like I said, I wanted people to come and buy paper bags of me. So you could argue I was conning people by not selling what they were asking for.
There is a school of thought which says that cloth bags would put a strain on the motor. I'm not denying that this may have been the case, but I don't believe it to have been as bad as people think. I'd be the first to pass comment to a customer that cloth bags can reduce the life of a motor, but then I would, because like I just said I wanted them to keep buying bags. But I would prefer to home in on a more proven aspect if I was to deter someone from buying cloth bags, such as the practicality of throwing out a paper dust bag and not getting in a mess.
Paper bags were of course revolutionary when they were first used. I have had little to do with cleaners before I had the shop in 1979 so I can't speak of the attitudes with any great knowledge before that time, but I do know that for a good deal of years the paper bag was always optional on Electrolux cleaners, I think the 330 was the first to reply solely on a paper bag, and I can't say I sold many paper bags for the machines which could have one fitted inside the cloth bag, so I know people liked the old cloth bags.