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No Joke, These Ads are Real

To celebrate April Fools’ Day, Mouse Print* looks at the lighter side of fine print this week — advertisements that will make you shake your head and say “huh?”

Ad 1: Farrell Volvo

This is the tail-end of a radio ad for a local car dealership. Just the way the fine print in TV car ads is a blur, so is the disclaimer in this radio pitch:

Can’t hear it? Try this.

Ad 2: JC Penney “Clearance Sale”

For the past year, J.C. Penney has done away with sales and coupons. And at least according to this ad, they have eliminated clearance reductions as well:

JCP clearance

Ad 3: Macy’s “One-Day” Sale

Macy’s is known for running periodic “one-day” sales that last for two days with a “preview day” followed by the actual sale day. Here, however, they are giving readers a bit of a snow job:

Macy's One Dale Sale

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FTC Warns Against Mouse Print in Online Ads

Last week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) revised its guidelines for disclosures in online advertising, including new guidance for ads that appear on cellphone screens.

One of the most important points made by the new “rules” is that when practical “advertisers should incorporate relevant limitations and qualifying
information into the underlying claim, rather than having a separate disclosure qualifying the claim.” That means don’t advertise “all books* on sale” with a disclaimer that says “*hardcover only”, when you could have clearly advertised “All Hardcover Books on Sale” to start with.

Some of the other basic principles include:

  • Required disclosures should be clear and conspicuous;
  • They should be close to the claim to which it relates;
  • Only in rare circumstances should a hyperlink lead to the disclosure;
  • You shouldn’t have to scroll to find the disclosure;
  • Even small banner ads and tweets need appropriate disclosures.

Here are some sample ads created by the FTC to demonstrate some of their new principles:

*MOUSE PRINT:

cell ad

In this ad, 3/4 Ct. is a link that goes to a disclosure that reveal that the diamonds actually may weigh between .72 and .78 carats. The FTC wants to see that disclosure right on this screen, near the 3/4 carat claim.

*MOUSE PRINT:

cold box

There is a health disclaimer at the bottom of this ad which warns that when temperatures are over 80 degrees, this cooler is not capable of keeping foods cold enough to prevent the growth of bacteria which could cause a foodborne illness. The FTC says that something this important should be right in the ad, and in close proximity to the claim that the box keeps food “fresh and cold.”

*MOUSE PRINT:

banner ad

The FTC has separate testimonial rules that require people who are paid to express their opinion to disclose that fact. In this case, “JuliStarz” was a paid endorser. In addition, also in that set of guidelines is the requirement that the average benefit to be derived from a weight loss program be disclosed if the example given is atypical. In this case, the average person will much less than 30 pounds in six weeks, so the disclosure has to say, for example, avg weight loss = 3-lbs/wk.

Don’t hold your breath waiting to see online ads follow all these rules.

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Best Buy Makes Price Matching Policy Permanent, But…

About a week ago, Best Buy announced that as of March 3, it will make permanent the price matching policy that it introduced last fall for the holiday shopping season.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Online or In Store: Find a Lower Price and We’ll Match It

If you find a lower price on a qualifying product at a local retail competitor’s store or a designated major online retailer, we will match the price.

At the time of purchase, we will match the current pre-tax price for new, identical, immediately available products from a local retail competitor’s store and these designated major online retailers: Amazon.com, Apple.com, Bhphotovideo.com, Buy.com, Crutchfield.com, Dell.com, Frys.com, hhgregg.com, HP.com, HomeDepot.com, Lowes.com, Newegg.com, OfficeDepot.com, OfficeMax.com, Sears.com, Staples.com, Target.com, TigerDirect.com and Walmart.com. We will match prices between our stores and BestBuy.com ®. We will also match prices post purchase if we lower our price within 15 days of your purchase.

The Guarantee is limited to one price match per identical item, per guest and does not apply to: Contract mobile phone devices and plans, the online prices of retailers not listed, the online prices of third party vendors (Marketplace vendors) on designated major online retailers websites, post purchase price match requests to competitor’s prices,

Best Buy for Business™, offers that include financing, gift card offers, bundling of items, free items, pricing errors, mail-in offers, coupon offers, competitors’ service prices, items that are advertised as limited-quantity, out of stock, open-box, clearance, refurbished/used items, our and our competitor’s Deal of the Day, daily deals, special hour sale event items and credit card offers, BestBuy.com Clearance & More and Marketplace items, and items for sale Thanksgiving Day through the Monday after Thanksgiving.

The new policy unfortunately continues to exclude some of the best sales (limited quantity, “deal of the day,” etc.) and best sale days (Black Friday through CyberMonday), and limits online price matches to 19 specific stores only. That is better than most stores which don’t match any Internet prices. And, now Best Buy will also match prices for accessories which were excluded previously.

Another change that does not benefit the customer is making the low price guarantee primarily a “before purchase” price match plan. In other words, while they would previously match prices either before or after the sale, now they will only match competitors’ prices at the time of your purchase. After the sale, they will only give you back the difference if Best Buy itself lowers the price, but only within 15 days of purchase.

Why for only 15 days? Because that is the little surprise that wasn’t disclosed in Best Buy’s press release.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Effective March 3, Best Buy’s return policy is being reduced from 30 days to just 15 days for most customers.

Mouse Print* asked Best Buy’s PR department why they were reducing the return period to just 15 days when most competitors’ policies are longer than that, and whether they thought that offering a price guarantee was a fair trade for cutting the number of return days.

“Overall, our updated return and exchange policy is still generous. Best Buy does not charge restocking fees, regardless of the item. Two of our major competitors charge 15 percent restocking fees on all or some consumer electronics products. We expect the impact to our customers to be minimal. The vast majority of our customers already make returns within 15 days of the purchase. In addition, customers have told us that price is more important that return and exchange period.” –Best Buy External Affairs

Just imagine the shocked look on customers’ faces when they try to return a purchase to Best Buy between day 16 and day 30.