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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.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
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?
RELATED:
#2
Starbucks At Laguardia Won't Let You Order A Coffee Without Installing Their App
#3
Amazon Prime Video Doesn't Tell You If A Show Is Unavailable In Your Country Until After You Subscribe To Amazon Prime
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
ZuriLovesYou 12 months ago
Okay, that's just lying because it's obviously not the typical price.
#5
The Fees On Ticketmaster Cost More Than My Tickets
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
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.
#7
Ham And Eggs Are $8.99, But They've Outlined It To Look Like $0.99 From Afar
StrangeOne 12 months ago
Even close up, I have to really see that it's an 8. This should be illegal. Fraud.
#8
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.
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
Paying For A Subscription And Still Have To Sit Through 8 Min+ Of Ads
#10
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
#11
Amazon Prime Video Is Basically Back To Cable TV Now That We’re Getting Random Commercials In The Middle Of Movies
SolitaryIntrovert 11 months ago
Even worse, they will cut to a commercial in the middle of a sentence, or even a word.
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
#13
This Is What Happens When You Price Everything At £4.99 Instead Of £5
#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).
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 12 months ago (edited)
Get to know your local vendors and suppliers. Once Trump's tariffs kick in, they are going to be your best friends. I get my eggs from a woman who keeps chickens.
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
The Price Of My Burger King Meal Got More Expensive As I Was Checking Out
#16
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
#17
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)
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.
#19
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!
DinsdalePiranha 12 months ago
I'm getting really sick of "renting" software, music, and videos.
#20
Panera Bread Increases Food Price By 25% When You Switch To Delivery - After Redeeming "No Fees" Delivery
#21
Uber Eats “Taxes & Other Fees” Strikes Again
#22
$1 Kids Meal? Wow That's A Good D-...oh Wait
#23
$1 Slices... *squints* Oh
#24
So, I Was Helping Mum To Use Her Printer And This Comes Out...an Advert...that Used Her Printer Ink To Make It
#25
These Shoes Have A Texture *printed* Onto Them. There Is No Actual Texture
#26
Great Sale
#27
Forcing Scanning Qr Codes To See Prices At The Gas Station?
#28
The Fortune In These Fortune Cookies
#29
"Sale" Pricing
#30
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.
#31
This Giant Olympic Countdown Banner During The Entire Movie
#32
Our Company Has Received Numerous Boxes Of Nothing Inclosed But A Post Card And Paper Confetti
#33
“…not My Prob,” Some Target Employee, Probably
#34
Always Read The Fine Print. Found In Hollywood, Los Angeles Ca
CC McSniggles 11 months ago
I hate paid parking areas. If the flat (min) rate is $15, then it wouldn't matter what any rate below $15 is, regardless of how little/long you've parked for. I once got charged $30 for pulling into the lot, looking at the parking rate, and leaving to find a cheaper lot. There was no rate posted outside, so you had to enter to see it. I never parked or got out of the car.
#35
I Went To Get My Mail And This Was The First Thing I Saw
#36
This Ad Increased The Price
Binny Tutera 11 months ago
I see this a lot. Also, they promote a sale and it's literally like 3 cents!
#37
Tried To Buy An Economy Flight For $500, Kept Running Into An Error And The Price Eventually Skyrocketed To More Than Premium Economy
Tobias Reaper 12 months ago
this is because of the error if this happens it thinks the tickets are in high demand so jacks up the prices it happens if you keep checking the price often
#38
Making All Four Screens Smaller To Feature A Massive Logo
#39
Ads On The Keyboard
#40
Product Not Selling Fast Enough? Put It On “Sale”
#41
Peacock Will Not Let You Switch To A Different Feed During A Commercial On The Active Feed. It Just Says “Controls Are Limited During Ads” When You Try To Move To A Different Feed
Peter Parker 12 months ago
Luckily, my subscription to Peacock is very limited.. in fact, so limited, it doesn't exist.
#42
The Humble Bundle Custom Amount Slider Is Designed To Makes It Look Like They Get Less Than Everyone Else
#43
I Firmly Believe That Tesla Is Anything But Jerk, And Can Even Think Of A Couple Of Reasons Why They Added This Feature, But The Car Should At Least Be Allowed To Start In Complete Manual If The Software Isn't Installed
Space Invader 12 months ago
" I Firmly Believe That Tesla Is Anything But Jerk " made me laugh.
#44
Coffee Shop Has No Prices On Any Of Their Menu Items. Noticing This, I Got Just A Small Chai Latte That Cost $3.50. My Wife, Unfortunately Ended Up Paying $8 For A Small Slice Of Avocado Toast
#46
Clerk Said It's -5% Not -50%. What Do You Think?
#47
Kia Charging $150/Year To Use The Already Installed Remote Start Feature
#48
The Box Calls Walmart Out On Its "Sales"
Verfin22 12 months ago
Realistically the before price could be right. This is Halloween merchandise only sold once a year(has bats, pumpkin on package). Walmart is trying to move it w/o losing money, i.e having to mark it down more after the holiday. Same goes for all candy branded for a holiday. I work there.
#49
This 4 Star Hotel In A Dutch City, Pretending To Be A 5 Star Hotel By Using The Town’s Coat Of Arms As A Fake ‘Fifth Star’
#50
My Cabs Preset ‘$0.00’ Tip Button Was Actually Set To Tip 25%
#51
This Drink On Doordash Says Its $4.69, But The Only Size Option, Which Is Required, Adds An Extra 50 Cents
#52
We Booked This A Month Ago
#53
Sellers Increase Prices During Prime Day And Offer A Discount At Checkout And Call It A “Deal”
#54
(Not A) Goodbye Sale!!!!!! (5%-) 99 Percent Off
#55
Hiding The "For" So You Think They Are Having Great Closeout Sales
#56
Trying To Book A Cruise As A Surprise For My Wife’s Bday/Our Anniversary In A Few Months. Every Cruise I Attempt To Book Has Ended Up Having “Taxes And Fees” That Are Higher Than The Actual Subtotal, Effectively Doubling The “On Sale” Price
Ron Man 11 months ago
Welcome to travel! Both airlines and cruiselines have fees that they have to pay on each passenger. They may give you a deal on the seat or the room, but you still have to pay the portage fees the airline or cruiseline is required to pay per passenger. This is what that is.
#57
2k19 Is A Retail 60$ Game. They Put Non Skippable Ads In From Another Company
#58
Neat! A 2$ Burger, That’s Pretty Chea- Oh Wait…
#59
Keurig Sensor Blocks Your Brew Unless It's "K-Cup Compatible", Aka Has Scannable Foil. Slap On An Old Foil To A 3rd Party Cup And Suddenly No Issue
Kristine Condon 11 months ago
Try to use a purple or orange marker on the outer edge of the lid-don't go too dark at first- it may not read it. (The white part on that lid in the picture) I found that worked on my machine for no name brands.
#60
Nashville Signature Shakes. Insane Prices. No You Can't Keep The Cute Jar
#61
My Grandmother Bought Flowers Over The Phone And They Didn't Say That The Fees And Taxes Cost More Than The Flowers
#62
My New Headset Has Dlc
#63
Cheaper If You Don’t Buy Two
#64
This Supermarket Offers A 2 For £7 Deal On A £3 Item
Ryan-James O'Driscoll 12 months ago
It's hard to say how unreasonable that is without knowing what else is included in the offer. It is a mix and match offer, so the other product does not have to be the same. If you bought 2 of those, you would be charged £6, not £7.
#65
Amazon "Prime Days" Sales Are Such A Load Of You Know What! Bought This Item In June For $60 Or So And Amazon Says It's '54%' Off Now
#66
A 7% Discount Pretending To Be 70%
#67
Parking Lot Charges A Fee For Not Downloading Their App
#68
I Sent Someone A Link To A Cat Video And The Thumbnail Is An Ad
#69
That’ll Be $5...99
#70
Who Is The One Who Thought Up The Idea To Make People Pay For A Subscription Plan Just To Read A Comment?
#71
Spotify Remotely Bricking Hardware Customers Paid For Less Than 3 Years After Its Official Release
#72
I Can’t Use My Treadmill In Manual Mode Unless I Pay For A Subscription
#73
"News Flash: Advertising Is Deceptive" -- Sigh, This Fake "Thermal Imaging". If The Pants Kept You Warm By Retaining Heat, The Would Register Cooler On Thermal Imaging, Not Hotter
Patrick Linnen 12 months ago
Not if the pants were heated. Then they would show up warmer when scanned.
#74
Ever Heard Of Paying To Reject Cookies?
#75
Thought Of This Sub As Soon As I Saw This…
Can’t believe they can get away with this… (apologies for taking a photo of a screen.)
Kate Jones 11 months ago
I mean...i don't see the big issue with this unless i'm missing something. At least it's for a good purpose and the no thanks button is right there if you don't want to.
#76
Isn't It Illegal To Have An "Everyday Sales Price"?
#77
Spot The Cheapest Option
LonelyLittleLeafSheep 11 months ago
What's the issue? You can buy one basic wash for $8. Or you can buy unlimited basic washes for $24.99/month. Not deceptive at all, just a lack of comprehension on your part.
#78
The Price Of Two Pepperoni Pizzas Through Ubereats
Tempest 12 months ago
I stopped using delivery apps, including Uber, because of this. Even if you apply some discount code, the final price after all sorts of senseless additional fees, becomes more than double the original price of the product. Also the base price of the items on the app is more than their cost in the shop. It is ridiculous how businesses are allowed to operate in such manner!
#79
Super Bowl Ticket Prices… And Their Fees (Sb Lvii 50 Yd Line Row 17 From Stubhub)
Kate Jones 11 months ago
I'm very biased, and you certainly have the right to do whatever you want with your money. But I find I can't feel that bad about this. If you're silly enough to pay 30K to watch a football game 17 rows back, I don't feel that bad about you paying this. And that doesn't even count the costs of travel and lodging if you don't live in the same place the superbowl is being held. 75K could literally change my life. It could pay for health care that I can't currently afford. And you're paying it for 3 hours of entertainment. I don't feel bad that the fees are that extravagant.
#80
This Discount
René Sauer 12 months ago
yes, kinda weird, but what´s deceptive or cr*ppy about it? I am more wondering where the additional 1.99$ in the total come from.
#81
Fine Print Strikes Again. Buy One Get One 50% Off
#82
Hp Ink Subscription Plan Bricks Your Ink Cartridges When You Cancel The Subscription
#83
Dog Toy Pricing - Facebook Ad vs. Amazon
Lady Lava 12 months ago (edited)
Watch out for stuff advertised via Facebook ads: there are lots of dropshipper webshops that order cheap from China and double or triple the price. Reverse image search can help to find out if they get their products from Temu or something. And if so, what the original price was.
#84
This Game Purposely Gives You “One-Time-Deals” That You Can’t Afford So That You Are Tempted To Buy Their In-Game Currency
#85
The Er Could At Least Let Me Watch TV For Free Considering The Huge Bill I'll Have To Fight
#86
This Got Me For A Second
Patrick Linnen 12 months ago
The deception is what? Themed joy controllers? The game itself runs about 50 USD, the Switch close to 300 USD, and the Online Membership (more games) is about 100 USD.
#87
Apple TV/Amc + Subscription Scam. They Have This Button On Every Show. Not Just Amc + Ones. I Put In Cc Info For The Free Trial And Then It Still Wants Me To Pay For Every Episode After The First Free One
KYLE 12 months ago
I just discovered this last night w/ AppleTV. I got the free months because I wanted to watch Spirited & that Godzilla show. I thought I'd watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas and was surprised everything apparently aside from what's on the homepage you have to rent or buy. There's very little content on AppleTV. Needless to say I won't be continuing the after the free trial.
#88
Made To Look Like $2.50
#89
This Sale At Target
#90
Here We Go
Add New Image
What do you think ?
JohnGalt 12 months ago (edited)
Subscription BS just needs to stop. I get the subscription model for services like Netflix, or Spotify, but subscriptions for printer ink, car features, software, games, etc is just over the top. Edit: Just create a better product, and if I find that it is worth my money, I will purchase it. Don't force me to continually pay for a product that adds no real value over time.
Birb 12 months ago
Biggest scam. Paying BP to see articles without ads. Not a fat chance in hell im gonna buy BP premium
Another Panda 12 months ago
We the consumers need to stop buying this BS. Simply stop buying it, then tell the corporations why. Most of this is just stuff we can live without long enough for them to get the message.
Lady Lava 12 months ago (edited)
Et tu, BoredPanda...? With the new premium nonsense, that wants you get a paid subscription to read all entries in an article... 😡 (Funnily enough not for this article though.) BP is a great time killer, but most of the content is not even original, but put together from some Reddit threat. I'm not going to pay for that.
Wintermute 12 months ago
Don't worry, it'll all be trickling down any time now. Aaaaaannnny time now...
Be_ Heard 8 months ago
Kinda like BP putting an ad on my page that pops up and there is no way to get out of it unless i get all the way out and start over. I literally can't find a way to get out of the at my whole screen goes darker and this tiny ad shows up in the middle and there is no way out. I have to start over
Philly Bob 11 months ago
Another good one: Bacon - 1 lb - $4.39 On sale" Buy one, Get one free - $7.49 to buy one. Yeah, did you think you were getting 2 lbs of bacon for $4.39?
LynzCatastrophe 11 months ago
I wonder if Bored Panda will see the irony of posting this article while asking me to subscribe so I can view ad-free. Don't you have enough of my information?!
Steve Robert 11 months ago
Just don't do business with these companies that think they are so clever. After the last election, I know half the people are dumb enough to fall for this c**p. But half the people are smart enough to stay away.
Ron Man 11 months ago
Most of these aren't deceptive. Pay attention when you're buying something. Spend 5 minutes to think about something. If it's retail ask questions before you buy. This is basic consumerism, and if you're reading this article you likely are in a capitalist country and need to understand how to be a consumer. Some of these are definitely shady, like putting real prices in outlines that look like different prices. But most of these I feel are people who don't understand that they actually need to think about how they spend their money and what they are getting for their money.
Apatheist Account2 12 months ago
Complain about all of these. If they display a price, pay that, and nothing more.
JohnGalt 12 months ago (edited)
Subscription BS just needs to stop. I get the subscription model for services like Netflix, or Spotify, but subscriptions for printer ink, car features, software, games, etc is just over the top. Edit: Just create a better product, and if I find that it is worth my money, I will purchase it. Don't force me to continually pay for a product that adds no real value over time.
Birb 12 months ago
Biggest scam. Paying BP to see articles without ads. Not a fat chance in hell im gonna buy BP premium
Another Panda 12 months ago
We the consumers need to stop buying this BS. Simply stop buying it, then tell the corporations why. Most of this is just stuff we can live without long enough for them to get the message.
Lady Lava 12 months ago (edited)
Et tu, BoredPanda...? With the new premium nonsense, that wants you get a paid subscription to read all entries in an article... 😡 (Funnily enough not for this article though.) BP is a great time killer, but most of the content is not even original, but put together from some Reddit threat. I'm not going to pay for that.
Wintermute 12 months ago
Don't worry, it'll all be trickling down any time now. Aaaaaannnny time now...
Be_ Heard 8 months ago
Kinda like BP putting an ad on my page that pops up and there is no way to get out of it unless i get all the way out and start over. I literally can't find a way to get out of the at my whole screen goes darker and this tiny ad shows up in the middle and there is no way out. I have to start over
Philly Bob 11 months ago
Another good one: Bacon - 1 lb - $4.39 On sale" Buy one, Get one free - $7.49 to buy one. Yeah, did you think you were getting 2 lbs of bacon for $4.39?
LynzCatastrophe 11 months ago
I wonder if Bored Panda will see the irony of posting this article while asking me to subscribe so I can view ad-free. Don't you have enough of my information?!
Steve Robert 11 months ago
Just don't do business with these companies that think they are so clever. After the last election, I know half the people are dumb enough to fall for this c**p. But half the people are smart enough to stay away.
Ron Man 11 months ago
Most of these aren't deceptive. Pay attention when you're buying something. Spend 5 minutes to think about something. If it's retail ask questions before you buy. This is basic consumerism, and if you're reading this article you likely are in a capitalist country and need to understand how to be a consumer. Some of these are definitely shady, like putting real prices in outlines that look like different prices. But most of these I feel are people who don't understand that they actually need to think about how they spend their money and what they are getting for their money.
Apatheist Account2 12 months ago
Complain about all of these. If they display a price, pay that, and nothing more.
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