Retail Ads: What Were They Thinking? (Part 2)
We continue a lighter look at some advertising that makes you do a double-take either because the real deal is not apparent or because you just can’t believe what you are reading.
1. Old Country Buffet: Let’s accent only the positive.
Everybody loves a bargain, so why not just emphasize that part of the offer? Old Country Buffet has repeatedly published coupons like this:
*MOUSE PRINT: You have to buy a regularly priced meal in order to receive the $6.99 dinner.
If you didn’t look closely, you would have thought that their dinner was $6.99 on this special offer. The offer is really, “buy one dinner at regular price, get a second dinner for $6.99.” Why can’t advertisers just promote the offer for what it is instead of potentially misleading the customer?
2. Linens ‘n Things: Bring us your old, tired, and expired…
Both Linens ‘n Things and Bed, Bath and Beyond honor each other’s coupons. But this ad from LNT really makes you do a double-take:
*MOUSE PRINT: “Even expired coupons” !
3. Come to our open house this weekend (if you can find it).
This five-inch by six-inch ad appeared in the Boston Globe’s real estate section some months ago touting a big open house for some designer condos. They probably paid a few thousand dollars for the ad, and hoped for a big turn out.
*MOUSE PRINT: Missing! Where’s the there there?
I don’t understand the Mouseprint about the LNT ad. First, it’s not small, Second,
there’s no “gotcha” Third, it doesn’t seem to be deceiving or hiding anything
Edgar replies: These were examples of ads that make you look twice (as noted in the first paragraph), because of something unusual in the ad (e.g., we take expired coupons), or because the fine print changed the meaning of the ad (the $6.99 dinner).
Comment by Dave — January 14, 2008 @ 9:07 amI agree with Dave. The LNT coupon is not relevant to this web site. I did not have to look twice at it.
Comment by Charlie — January 14, 2008 @ 9:53 am#1 is pretty standard.
Comment by Chris Farley — January 14, 2008 @ 11:37 amI also agree. #2 is not relevant, not misleading, and not necessarily unusual.
Comment by Sean — January 15, 2008 @ 3:55 pmWhat always annoyed me about LNT and BB&B coupons (usually they’d come in the mail) was the fine print at the bottom — apparently you can’t use the coupon on over half the products they sell. Why bother with the stupid coupon at all??
Comment by Carol — January 16, 2008 @ 5:19 pmI agree with all the others. #1 is pretty standard. Standard practice – nothing misleading there at all. We’ve all seen it a million times and agree that it’s normal and not misleading.
#2 is also fine. They’ll even take a coupon for an item if the expiration date on the coupon was months before your visit. What’s wrong with that? This one shouldn’t be on the list.
Comment by Mark — January 21, 2008 @ 1:34 amMy first glance at the Old Country Buffet ad interpreted it as, “One adult can eat for $6.99, and if that can’t be done, then kids will eat for free.”
Comment by George T — January 27, 2008 @ 12:48 pmIn #3, “D4″ is the location. It doesn’t really nail it down to a single address, but if there is a lot of real estate available, I guess you could just drive around District 4 and something could be open.
Comment by Jimmy — February 26, 2008 @ 8:03 amCoupon 1 says “buy one adult meal at regular price and enjoy an adult meal for $6.99″ What it doesn’t say is “enjoy another adult meal…” or “enjoy a second adult meal…” To me this means I can interpret the fine print as such: Buy a regularly priced adult meal but enjoy it for the price of only $6.99.
Comment by Parker — August 7, 2008 @ 9:34 am