"Buy one now and get another one free, "just pay a separate fee." This statement originally was, "Buy one now and get a second one free of charge for the same price as the first you stupid cows" but was changed due to reasons unknown.
I'm still pissed about pharmaceutical ads; I'll have to be pissed about the "get one free" thing later.
What grinds me is when an ad says "EVERYTHING IN THE STORE ON SALE!!!!" and then in teeny tiny print lists the many, many things that are excluded. If you look up the word "everything" in your Funk & Wagnells, you won't find the words "except for" anywhere on the page.
One that gets me... Order this item for just $19.99. And if you order right now, we'll throw in a plush bathrobe for free. A $50 value. I feel like telling them, keep the bathrobe and send me the item for free. You'll come out ahead.
Or how about "...and receive a second one for free! Just pay shipping and handling." Now, you're already paying s&h on the first one. I assume your "free" one is coming in the same package. How much more "handling" does it require to drop a second one in the box? How much extra postage is it going to take? Just cut the cr@p and say, "we'll give you a second one for free but it's ain't gonna be exactly free."
I love the no-stick pans adds where foods are singed black to a crisp and burned into the metal. Maybe it's the chef, not the pan! Also when a collection of pans is for sale and the price is something around $250 like I saw today the payments are suddenly "Easy" payments. They add if you call right now they will remove one payment but that add has been running for years so why call right now?
How about: ".....and it only costs pennies a day!" Uh, you can express ANY cost in "pennies". $10 a day is 1,000 pennies....thus only pennies a day...
It must all work on the sheeple as this form of advertising has been going on for decades. I am immune. I have yet to buy a Bass-o-matic. Free! always gets attention and believers.
Ok, I'm going to have to 'fess up here on something: I DID buy a Popeil Pocket Fishing Pole years ago for my late husband, mostly as a joke. It broke the first time he used it. AND, I fell for the Ginzu (Ginsu?) knives. Another disappointment.
I was gonna make a similar comment. It's like the car buying process we all loathe...it's that way for a reason. If it weren't highly effective--or if there were a "better" way that was just as effective--businesses would be doing that other thing and raking in the money.
Uh-huh and normally found on ads for helping some country’s kids from starvation. I’ve always wondered. If I help a child with whom I am supposed to be able to get reports on and eventually communicate with, will that be the only child in a village who is able to go to school, get new clothes and eat healthy? Or…..do they hold off feeding and educating my kid until all the kids of a village have sponsors? And….whose cup of coffee are we talking about? Mine only costs me about .50 a pot but some other folks might spend $7-$8 for a cup at Starbucks every day. And, If I do give up less than a cup of my coffee per day, will my kid get less to eat and a worse education than the kid who’s sponsor spends $7.00 a day? I mean, I certainly wouldn’t like the idea that other less fortunate kids would develop a case of wealth envy because one kid’s sponsor drinks expensive coffee.