Crowd Cow’s ‘$100 of Free Meat’
As a TINA.org reader put it, it’s only “free” if you first spend money.
UPDATE 7/2/18: Following TINA.org’s outreach to the company, ButcherBox modified the language of its advertising: “Order Now & Receive Free Bacon in Every Box – For Life.” Our original ad alert follows.
FREE BACON FOR LIFE.
Against the banal and fleeting backdrop of a Facebook timeline, these words serve as a beacon to weary navigators, softly beckoning, “Come in, stay a while.” But for one TINA.org reader, they proved to be a siren song.
Hooked by this porcine proclamation, the consumer discovered that the Facebook ad, above, was from ButcherBox, a company that provides monthly subscription boxes of meat. That “free” bacon? It comes with the boxes, which start at $129/month.
On the landing page for the not-so-free bacon, there is some fine print which specifies that the bacon isn’t free, per se, but that customers can “*Get a free pack of bacon in every ButcherBox you receive for the life of your subscription.” But as we’ve pointed out before, what the headline giveth, the fine print is not supposed to taketh away. Ergo, “FREE BACON FOR LIFE” should mean free bacon. For life.
TINA.org reached out to the company via its support chat to express our concerns about the misleading ad. We were told:
I’m so sorry for any confusion it has caused. Will let the team know to update the ad to prevent confusion to others as well.
Find more of our coverage on stuff advertised as “free” here.
Our Ad Alerts are not just about false and deceptive marketing issues, but may also be about ads that, although not necessarily deceptive, should be viewed with caution. Ad Alerts can also be about single issues and may not include a comprehensive list of all marketing issues relating to the brand discussed.
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The first box may be “free” (sort of) but the second one isn’t and it’s on its way before you know it.