Food/Groceries

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July 4th Sales Gone Awry

We’ve got two stories this week, submitted by readers, all complaining about deceptive July 4th sales.

Story #1:

One of the most common forms of retail advertising is to promote a storewide sale on “everything.” Rarely is everything really on sale, but retailers still insist on using the word “everything.”

CVS Pharmacy is no exception. Just in time for July 4th, they sent out a mass email with the subject line: “4th of July Sale- 20% off EVERYTHING! 3 Days Only on CVS.com .” No exceptions, no exclusions, no asterisks. However, when you open the email, you see the graphic above with the small asterisk after “everything.”

The asterisk inevitably leads to a long list of exclusions.

*MOUSE PRINT:

*Offer available online only. Expires 6/30/10 at 11:59 PM EDT. To receive the 20% off sitewide discount enter coupon code JULY20 at check out. These products are not discounted: AeroGarden, Align, Alli, Acra Hair Removal Device, As Seen on TV products, Beauty 360 products, Belli, Better Body Solutions, Bodi Rocker, Burts Bees, Conair Infinity, Epilady, GHT, GoWear, Hormel, Ionic Pro, Jitterbug, Kelemata, Kidco, LaneLabs, LaRoche-Posay, Lierac, LipFusion, Maxoderm, Medela, Medical Nutrition Products, Olay Pro X, Omnilux, OXO, Philips Heartstart Home Defibrillator, Rapidlash, Resperate, Rock Hard Weekend, Sinupulse, Skin Doctors, Vector Hair Removal System, Vichy/Dermablend, Violight, Zanfel, Zeno. The 20% sale cannot be combined with another product sale running at the same time. You will receive the larger discount. The 20% sale excludes prescriptions and gift cards.

Thanks to Richard A. for the submission.

Story #2:

PetSmart sent out an email telling shoppers they could save up to $15 with coupons this weekend, both online and at their stores.

Here’s a part of their email:

*MOUSE PRINT:

Offer valid through July 4, 2010 at 6am ET

Nothing like having to get up early on a holiday morning — before 3am West coast time, and before 6am East coast time to use the coupon online before it expires. And the 6am time was not a typo, because trying to use it at 9am resulted in this error message:

Incidentally, their brick and mortar coupons were good all day at the store because they did not have a time of day expiration.

Thanks to Kelsey P. for the submission.

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Snuggle Softens Better than Downy?

Snuggle fabric softener is running a new commercial claiming that women preferred Snuggle over Downy.  Snuggle beat the market leader? How could this be?

*MOUSE PRINT:

The preference for Snuggle was based on how soft the towels felt wet after just having been washed? Why in the world would anyone judge a fabric softener on how a wet towel felt?  My guess is they also asked women which towel was softer and smelled nicer after they were dried, but that Snuggle didn’t win that comparison.

To be fair, the commercial also orally explains exactly what was preferred (although they deliberately omit the word “damp”), but unless you stop and really think about the (irrelevant) claim being made, you might have believed that Snuggle was preferred to Downy overall.