Many people get excited when they see something they want or need on sale, be it a new phone or a frozen pizza. And to the great joy of consumers, all sorts of things go on sale constantly. However, when they do, it’s important not to rush to the checkout counter without properly examining the offer first and this list will show you why.
Below you will find examples of deceptive marketing techniques that people have captured in stores and businesses that emphasize just how misleading marketing can be. Take a look at how companies might try to trick you into buying something, and consider this practice for when you go to a store that’s dotted with ‘SALE’ signs, even when there actually isn’t one.
#1 Amazon Prime Video Doesn't Tell You If A Show Is Unavailable In Your Country Until After You Subscribe To Amazon Prime
Image credits: Iescaunare
#2 Despite The Official Weight Limit Being 50lbs, These Spirit Self Service Kiosks Will Flag Anything Over 40lbs As Overweight And Require A $78 Additional Charge To Proceed
The only way to avoid this is to have your bag checked by a live employee who will follow the real 50lb limit.
Image credits: attattx
#3 This Is A New Low, Even For Epson
So apparently the ink cartridges that come with this Epson printer are only for the "initial printing" (i.e. the test pages), so you have to buy new cartridges the moment you get the printer. WTF, Epson?
Image credits: Alaeriia
Nowadays, it’s difficult to escape all of the information about goods and services. It seems omnipresent—on billboards while we’re driving to work, on TV while we’re watching our favorite shows, in pop-up ads while we’re scrolling on social media, and even in good old newspapers when we think we can escape the digital pressure that screens bring.
Whether we actively pay attention to what’s being advertised or not, chances are at least some of it sticks in our heads—especially when we catch a glimpse of a good deal, or something that seems too good to pass up. (Did an ad for some delicious food pop into your head? No? I guess it’s just me then.) Consequently, it can lead to us buying whatever it is that was advertised, sometimes even when we don’t really need it.
#4 Saved This To My Cart Yesterday But Decided To Wait Until Today To Buy It To Get A Sale Price On Amazon Prime Day
Image credits: QuickWrenn
#5 The Fees On Ticketmaster Cost More Than My Tickets
Image credits: papyru22
The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines marketing as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” And, well, it’s clear by looking at this list that the offerings are often presented in a very appealing, if somewhat deceptive, way.
But as long as the information provided in an ad, a billboard, or elsewhere is true, you can’t really say that a company did anything wrong by choosing a font that makes the number 8 look like a 0 from afar.
#6 The Way This Goal Has Extra Rings To Make The Goal Smaller. You Cant See It From The Front When Shooting The Basketball To Try And Win A Prize
Image credits: Own-Marzipan5040
#7 Ham And Eggs Are $8.99, But They've Outlined It To Look Like $0.99 From Afar
Image credits: comment-stalker
#8 Starbucks At Laguardia Won't Let You Order A Coffee Without Installing Their App
Image credits: PaulSkallas
While discussing the persuasion and deception in marketing in a piece for Forbes, best-selling author and speaker Nick Leighton pointed out that, from an ethical standpoint, the line between making a bold statement to influence the target audience and providing information that’s outright deceptive can be quite blurry.
But, according to Leighton, there is an easy way to check if your claim steps over the bounds of being ethical – you can ask yourself if the claim has the potential to harm the consumer, whether financially, physically, or emotionally. If the answer is yes, the expert advises carefully re-evaluating your message.
#9 This Is What Happens When You Price Everything At £4.99 Instead Of £5
Image credits: minisaladfresh
#10 Bowlero - Default 22% Tip. Canceling Order Then Tries To Get Your Business By Giving The Option For No Tip. Then Asks Again To Confirm If You Are Cancelling Order
How is this manipulation not illegal? Time to go back to Cash Only.
Image credits: SideScroller
#11 Paying For A Subscription And Still Have To Sit Through 8 Min+ Of Ads
Image credits: 386andresvega
Delving deeper into deceptive advertising, Nick Leighton suggested that there are seven red flags indicating unethical tactics in advertising. The first one is based on transparency and disclosure, or lack thereof.
“In many cases, it’s not what you say but what you don’t say that is deceptive,” the expert wrote, adding that sometimes, businesses or organizations choose to deliberately withhold important information in order to sway consumers.
#12 Dave & Busters Spin Game Landed On The 500 And It Only Gave Me 4 Tickets. Showed To Manager And Said It Needed To Be In The Middle
Image credits: Dohello
#13 Amazon Prime Video Is Basically Back To Cable TV Now That We’re Getting Random Commercials In The Middle Of Movies
Image credits: AmericanTrollBot
#14 Grocery Store Price For Bay Leaves Is 16300% Higher Than The Farmers Market
The cheapest bay leaves the local Kroger had were $61.06/ounce. The farmer's market sells a higher quality for $5.99/pound ($0.37/ounce).
Image credits: Historical_Suspect97
Next on the list of red flags are exaggerated claims or misleading language, followed by manipulative imagery, all of which show that if a service or a product seems too good to be true—be it in the description or the pictures—chances are that it is too good to be true.
“Always make sure the claims your company makes are accurate and easily verified to avoid any accusations of deceptive business practices,” Leighton wrote.
The rest of the red flags implying that the company might be using deceptive advertising, entail false comparisons, hidden fees, bait-and-switch, false customer reviews, and misused statistics or cherry-picked data that backs the company’s claims of their products or services.
#15 Hotel Charging Cable That Requires You To Register An Account And Sign In With The Qr Code In Order To Work. It Gives You A 5-Minute Free Trial And Then Requires A Fee Per Hour Of Use
Image credits: nekomichi
#16 My New Truck Requires A $15/Mo Data Plan To Use Features My Previous Model Did For Free (Maps, Basic Voice Commands, Text To Voice Messages)
Image credits: reddit.com
#17 The Price Of My Burger King Meal Got More Expensive As I Was Checking Out
Image credits: Simply827
According to Nick Leighton, fixing the damage caused by misinformation and deception can be a difficult task, bearing in mind that people already aren’t that fond of ads—at least the digital kind—as it is.
Seeking to minimize the number of ads they are forced to sit through, many people use ad blockers, and the main reason for doing so, according to research carried out by HubSpot, is that ads are annoying and intrusive.
Other reasons why people reportedly dislike ads (the ones on their screens, at least) include their disruption, security concerns, reduced bandwidth use, offensive or inappropriate content, and privacy concerns.
#18 Semi Deceptive Marketing
It's clear what they are offering once you read it fully. I love and hate this in ways that I'll just not say.
Image credits: SubliminalSavage
#19 Panera Bread Increases Food Price By 25% When You Switch To Delivery - After Redeeming "No Fees" Delivery
Image credits: teraflux
#20 $1 Slices... *squints* Oh
Image credits: jooooooooooooose
#21 $1 Kids Meal? Wow That's A Good D-...oh Wait
Image credits: reddit.com
#22 Uber Eats “Taxes & Other Fees” Strikes Again
Image credits: boopyape
#23 "Sale" Pricing
Image credits: xxgsr02
#24 So, I Was Helping Mum To Use Her Printer And This Comes Out...an Advert...that Used Her Printer Ink To Make It
Image credits: sixspence6
#25 This Giant Olympic Countdown Banner During The Entire Movie
Image credits: WaffleWarrior1979
#26 Our Company Has Received Numerous Boxes Of Nothing Inclosed But A Post Card And Paper Confetti
Image credits: LareeKrause
#27 Forcing Scanning Qr Codes To See Prices At The Gas Station?
Image credits: Palerate2
#28 Making All Four Screens Smaller To Feature A Massive Logo
Image credits: gohan_sebastian_bach
#29 The Fortune In These Fortune Cookies
Image credits: cats-and-cows
#30 These Shoes Have A Texture *printed* Onto Them. There Is No Actual Texture
Image credits: leutwin
#31 Great Sale
Image credits: SerRoboDuck
#32 Tried To Buy An Economy Flight For $500, Kept Running Into An Error And The Price Eventually Skyrocketed To More Than Premium Economy
Image credits: dn00
#33 Always Read The Fine Print. Found In Hollywood, Los Angeles Ca
Image credits: OH8IRD
#34 I Walked In, Ordered The Meatball Footlong, And Paid Almost 10 Dollars For It
Apparently I have to order it “as is” or else it’s full price. I was told this after choosing provolone and Italian herbs and cheese, both of which aren’t allowed.
Image credits: MauditAmericain
#35 I Went To Get My Mail And This Was The First Thing I Saw
Image credits: A-verY-CReAtIVe-NaM
#36 So I Am Now Officially Never Buying A Vegas Editing Software Again. The Developers Have Removed Vegas Pro Edit 15 For Purchase On Steam And Are Now Revoking Licenses For The Software
I'm now out $150 and no longer have an editing software. Very cool!
Image credits: PaladinPoko
#37 This Ad Increased The Price
Image credits: Kmb1995
#38 Ads On The Keyboard
Image credits: Yatharth1232
#39 “…not My Prob,” Some Target Employee, Probably
Image credits: kellermeyer14
#40 Product Not Selling Fast Enough? Put It On “Sale”
Image credits: Glipocalypse
