Advertising, ad campaigns, ad agencies, and the people that make it happen

I am sure that I have bought stuff at Best Buy’s in the past, sent in for rebates, forgot about them, and never got them when promised. So yesterday’s news that  its stores have a secret Internet Web site that employees use to block customers getting the special prices featured in their advertising doesn’t surprise me. Apparently the Connecticut State Attorney General has opened an investigation into Best Buy’s practices. These include showing customers a mirror site of the regular web site when they ask about advertised prices. The mirror site doesn’t have the reduced prices displayed, so the sales staff tries to convince the customer they must have made a mistake. A mealy mouthed spokeshack for Best Buy issued the following statement… "As a company, everything we do revolves around our customers' needs and desires. It is never our intent to mislead them as their loyalty is incredibly important to us." Yeah, right… So where’s that rebate for the CD player I bought the Christmas before last?

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