(whisper) “up to” (shout) “50% OFF EVERYTHING”
Marketers we can do better …
up to
50% OFF EVERYTHING
How companies get away with this frustrates me.
We have laws about false and misleading conduct and just last night I watched a TV add that made this claim yet again. This is clearly written, displayed and said in a way to fool people into thinking everything is 50% off.
It might not be false, but it’s downright misleading.
I’d take…
“Up to 50% off”
“Everything on Sale – up to 50% Off”
I love sales, I love ethical marketing, but this infuriates me.
If you’re that desperate to get customers in your store, online or off, take a good hard look at your products, price and customer experiences. Don’t depend on piss-poor and in my opinion illegal promotions to keep your business going.
… and Dear ACCC, please invest some money to take a few to task on this. The more you’re silent, the more people will feel as though they can get away with it. It’s not about fines, it’s about teaching these companies what’s right.
The ripple effect will be magic.
Okay I’ve got that out… Time to do something positive.
Even worse is when you get to a store with this kind of sale on and ask which items are actually 50% off they’re usually out of stock!
Yeah, harder to prove that one.
Hi Shayne, totally agree, ethics are thin on the ground. You might be interested to read my blog about marketing ethics at http://marketingheart.wordpress.com/
It’s me just trying to do my bit for truth and honesty in a business that sometimes seems not to know what they are!
I’ve also written a white paper about the importance of marketers “taking a good hard look at your products” as you put it, and building authentic brands from there up. It’s at http://www.scribd.com/doc/144341233/Bottom-up-branding-Authentic-Clarity
So that’s your homework sorted out! Cheers, Mark
Or the store that has windows emblazoned with ‘Up to 50% off everything in-store”….
Walk in and there is one ratty rack of unsaleable garbage in the back corner with 50% off and a maximum of 10% off everything else.
Ethically and morally passable – but will I ever darken there door again? no, it makes you feel like a fool for buying into their semantics…