Do Ads Like This Really Work?

Over the holiday weekend, I caught a Dodge commercial on TV. It happened to be from one Melloy Dodge in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was your typical car commercial with a loud announcer’s voiceover highlighting the unusual and amazing (always “amazing”!) deals on new cars. You better hurry or you’ll miss the special deal.

This particular commercial was advertising a full 80% off MSRP! To be honest, that 80% figure is the only reason the commercial caught my attention as I am thoroughly immune to stupid commercials. How could that be? Was Melloy going out of business? Even if they were, no new car is ever 80% off unless it’s a scam, like say a stolen or flooded vehicle.

It didn’t take long to hear it was indeed a scam. The particular foul? You may have already guessed- “MSRP” had a special definition just for this commercial. Instead of the standard “manufacturer’s suggested retail price” to which everyone is accustomed, they slipped in their fabricated definition of “manufacturer’s suggested retail profit“. I nearly spit out my coffee at the audacity. Yet one wonders, does such blatant nonsense work as a marketing gimmick? Is there anyone who actually thought this was a real deal?

Personally, I try hard not to do business with people or companies that operate this way.