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Sign Up for Comcast, Get $500?

While surfing around the Internet last week, MrConsumer came upon this banner ad from Comcast advertising up to a $500 Visa card if one signs up for their Xfinity service. (The ad appeared on a world time website, rather than a local website with a local target audience.)

When clicking the ad, you are taken to a Comcast page with this list of offers:

*MOUSE PRINT: (click graphic below for a larger version)

The only offers shown are for plans that provide Visa cards from $100 to $300. Where is the advertised $500 card? We asked Comcast to explain this discrepancy that looks an awful lot like a bait and switch scheme.

“[W]e did indeed have a limited-time online promotion, which offered up to a $500 Visa prepaid card. It was a geo-targeted campaign aimed at consumers in select markets.” – Peter Dobrow, Comcast Corporate Communications

I’m sorry, that doesn’t cut it. Advertisers can tell from your IP address roughly where you live, and can target ads accordingly on the fly. An offer for $500 back meant for one locale should never appear on a national website if the offer is not available to those who view it.

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Here We Downsize Again – Part 1 (2012)

In the never ending cycle of products periodically shrinking inconspicuously in size rather than directly going up in price, we found some doozies.

Paper towels often are downsized, and Bounty is no exception:

*MOUSE PRINT:

Bounty Select-a-Size went from 121 sheets on a roll down to 111. But, the new package seems to say that you are getting 33% more sheets. How in the world is that possible?

*MOUSE PRINT:

The fine print says the comparison is not with the prior version of this product as you would expect, but rather with a “regular” roll, whatever that size really is. If you think about, it is outrageous that P&G would put a 33% more sheets claim on a package that was actually just downsized in the number of sheets.

Last fall, peanut butter prices went through the roof. What got less publicity was the fact that nuts themselves went up in price too. In the case of Planters nuts, consumers experienced both a direct price increase as well as a downsizing.

*MOUSE PRINT:

As always, manufacturers never call your attention to the fact that they have downsized the product, so you have to become net-weight-conscious in order to catch them playing this sneaky game.

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Fruit Roll-ups: Their “Strawberry” is Really…

Decades ago, General Mills introduced us to Fruit Roll-ups, a supposedly healthy snack “made with real fruit.” Indeed, below is a picture of an older box of strawberry Fruit Roll-ups, with the claims that it is “made from real fruit” and that it is “naturally flavored.”

Well, it seems that at least one consumer actually read the ingredients statement and was surprised by what she found.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Annie Lam was shocked to find that the strawberry snack she bought not only had no strawberries in it, it was actually made with pears, and a bunch of other additives and chemicals. And unlike most consumers who would shrug off this afront, she filed a class action lawsuit against the company.

General Mills asked that the suit be dismissed, but the judge ruled last week that it could go forward because:

“Reasonable consumers might be misled by packaging that claimed the snacks are ‘made with real fruit,’ and would not read the fine print.” — U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti

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