Wednesday, November 13, 2013

It's All about the Asterisk

This is the result of a rant I engaged in with respect to disclaimers as used in advertising.  If it turned political, so be it.

We were visiting daughter and son-in-law  I was glancing at a Meijer advertisement, specifically at the "turkey" section.  They were offering some sort of convoluted deal based on size of bird, location of store (maybe), and whether or not Saturn is rising in your sign.  (I made that up; I don't really know what the conditions were, because of the asterisk.  This always leads to a disclaimer, and this was no exception.  I skipped over most of the nonsense, but noted that the last line said something about "see page 8 for further qualifications and conditions.  (I am paraphrasing, but not making it up.)

I went into a rant mode, something to the effect that I could not understand why people couldn't publish a straightforward ad, "Turkey $1.29/lb." or whatever it is that is fair and honest.

Shari said, "You dislike disclaimers?  Here, check this one."  She handed me this:


7 comments:

Sharkbytes said...

Gotta love it. I'm having mega difficulties just signing up for Medicare. Glad I won't have to deal with that nightmare.

Secondary Roads said...

The asterisk is the sign for the TV announcer to kick his voice into overdrive and "floor it." Annoying!

Grace said...

Strings attached, knotted and too long to unravel...

vanilla said...

Sharkey, surely hope the Medicare process is smoothly completed.

Chuck, oh, one can hardly grab the remote quickly enough!

Grace, yes. Disclaimers, coupons, mail-in offers: all annoying.

Lin said...

I'd rather pay full price for anything than have to deal with all the disclaimers.

Obama is a dream, isn't he? Sure does talk purty...but that is about it.

Shelly said...

Hate those asterisks!

vanilla said...

Lin, we see marketing in the same way. See purty talkin' politicians in a similar way, too, I think.

Shelly, trying to see the bright side, I suppose there would be hundreds of "marketers" and ad agencies out of work if merchants instituted an honest, straight-forward approach to selling their stuff.