Chevy Malibu Bait-and-Switch Commercials Should Be Banned
Chevrolet has been running "real people - not actors" commercials for the past few months. The one featuring kids who are pleased to learn that Chevy cross-overs have individual wi-fi capabilities for seven passengers is SO FAKE. How many times will you find a group of kids who will say in unison "Oh my GOSH"? Yea, right...
But by far the most annoying and frankly dishonest commercial being aired lately is the one about the Chevy Malibu. There are two variants. In one, a car without any badging is being shown to "real people" who, based on the features, try to guess the manufacturer and price. In the other variant, the announcer shows a Chevy Malibu to a group of people, who are very impressed with the feature set.
In both variants, one of the real people after discovering all these features says "... and it sells for?" to which the narrator replies "It starts at $23,495" at which point one incredulous member of the group exclaims "What!!??" and another says "Wow!!!".
Well, those people should be incredulous, because the car shown to the group actually costs $35,345 (plus lots of additional expenses - like taxes, licensing and other fees). This actual cost is revealed in the small print on the screen and is more than 50% higher than the price quoted by the narrator.
Unfortunately, there is nothing illegal about this ad, since the actual "price as shown" is displayed in the ad. What is offensive is the narrator's extremely misleading answer to the very direct question "... and it sells for?".
Ford Motor Company, to its credit, has decided that their advertisements will feature vehicles that include commonly requested features and option packages, and the prices they display in the ads will be for the vehicle as shown. That is a commendable step. I hope it gains the respect and admiration of the viewing public. Who knows... this may start a trend where prices for goods and services will actually be accurately depicted in ads. Wouldn't that be refreshing!