I'm not sure I'd say an ad like the first "misleads" people. If you consider that half of the people out there are idiots, it does not matter what you print, they will believe what they want. I mean, supposedly about 80% of the people out there believe in a magical ghost man in the sky, but I digress.

I truly believe if you were to change an ad to "10 to 50% off" a good portion would still believe everything is 50% off. But sadly, a good proportion of those couldn't even calculate 50% off if the starting price was, say, $100.

The bottom line is, who cares what any advertising says. When you are in the store on looking online, just look at the final price and if you think it is a deal then buy it, if not then pass on it.

I have absolutely no problem with an ad that says "up to 50% off" so long as there is at least one item that truly is 50% off.

For this to be a good report, I would have liked to have seen a poll in Massachusetts to see what people there would have responded to what their ads say. I can bet that a good portion of people still do not understand what "10 to 50%" off means or that only 10% of the items may be 50% off.