I was watching the local Fox channel’s morning news show this morning and they were talking a little about deceptive advertising. If you have read some of the other stuff I have posted here, you’ll know that is one of my favorite topics.
The show featured a fellow who operates a web site on the topic of “mouse print.” Mouse print is the little disclaimers you often see at the bottom of advertisements. You know, the sentence or two at the very bottom of the ad that is printed so small you can barely read it without a magnifying glass. That’s mouse print.
I think everyone knows that there is often a certain amount of deception that is revealed when reading the mouse print, but according to the report, it seems to be getting worse lately.
In on example, a car dealership was advertising a brand-new car for sale in a newspaper ad for $9,000. If you are at all familiar with car prices these days, you’ll know that sounds like a good deal. Heck, $9,000 was about what I paid for my brand-new Monte Carlo back in 1982!
Anyway, at the bottom of the ad for the new car, the mouse print revealed that you must be either putting $9,000 cash down when you purchase or trading in a car that is worth $9,000 at the time of purchase, so in reality, the car is being offered for $18,000! Double what the deceptive headline claimed. That’s ridiculous.
I guess the idea is get get people all worked up about the notion of a brand-new car for $9,000 and hope that they race down to the dealership so some sleazy salesman can talk them into a purchase.
I understand disclaimers and all that, and how a little trick or two used in advertising can yield better results for an advetiser, but deception like this is just plain slimey and wrong.
For more mouse print info, check out the mouse print site.
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