"A Special Gift" that is not special or unique in any way

"A Special Gift" that is not special or unique in any way

1 min read
Published:
(3 years ago)
Updated:
(2 years ago)
Advertising deception from NakedWines in the form of fake "special gift cards" — seemingly harmless to many, but in time I hope we come to see this for what it is: deception and manipulation.

This card is designed this way to give the impression that you have something special and unique, but the codes are exactly the same, so obviously there's nothing special or unique about this card — they just want to subtly manipulate you into thinking so... Virtually everything on this card is a lie:

  • the "code": it was made to look unique but is clearly not, they could have just used "Free100" or something but clearly there was a deliberate choice to make it more "random looking" to give the appearance of uniqueness and thus make the card holder feel like they have something special.
  • the "password": If you are typing a promotion code into a website, you only need one code. A password for a code is entirely redundant, but they wanted to add it — and again with "random letters") — because it makes the user feel like they have something unique, even though they really don't.
  • the "claim within 30 days": This is not a "use by" or "valid until" date. Instead, writing "Claim within 30 days" is just a way to create a heightened sense of urgency without any actual urgency. To be clear: 'Use by' and 'valid until' approaches on coupons and such are used to do the exact same thing (create a sense of urgency) but these guys are going one step further and not even basing the urgency on anything real (I tried to use the card and it worked well beyond the 30 days after I received it, which they wouldn't even know because it was just in regular postal mail and that has variable delivery times).

The fact that no one bats an eye at this — that people think this kind of deception is totally acceptable and normal — is one of the great tragedies of our time. 🙈

Deception like this indicates that the people running this business have no real morals, and thus I can't trust them and why I will never buy from them.

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