# What does this ad mean?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-ad-mean/477638
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 17, 2008, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-ad-mean/477638 "2008-12-17T21:26:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@luvrbcs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luvrbcs)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2008, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-ad-mean/477638/1 "2008-12-17T21:26:20Z")
Here in Pittsburgh (Go Pens), there was an ad on TV for a jewelry place called Zales. At the end of the ad this disclaimer popped up. This is it exactly:
Take an Extra 15% off storewide
Off orig./sale prices on selected items. Original
prices may not have resulted in actual sales.
What does the last line mean? It doesn’t make sense to me.
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### Author:  [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-ad-mean/477638/2 "2008-12-17T21:28:59Z")
It means that although the original price on that particular piece of gaudy jewelry was $1000 it is entirely likely that no one ever paid that price, and that the original price was inflated for the purposes of giving an entirely imaginary 15% discount.
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### Author:  [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2008, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-ad-mean/477638/3 "2008-12-17T21:47:46Z")
Right, and likely is in response to a law in a particular jurisdiction that says you can’t call it a sale if the buyer isn’t actually saving money (unless it’s disclosed). Thus, the perfectly opaque disclosure and a legal “sale that isn’t”.
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-ad-mean/477638/4 "2008-12-17T21:52:16Z")
I asked the exact same “WTF” question to my wife when I saw that ad recently. We came to the same conclusion as above.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2008, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-ad-mean/477638/5 "2008-12-17T21:55:57Z")
Back in my retail days, there was a law in my state that you couldn’t call it a “sale” unless the item had been offered at the original price for X number of days. One of the merchandise managers used that to price stuff at “original price” Mon.-Thurs. and then at the “sale price” every weekend.
I remember this because we got a call from the Attorney General’s office asking if we would let them see our ads for the previous year.
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### Author:  [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2008, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-ad-mean/477638/6 "2008-12-18T00:32:06Z")
And doesn’t “storewide” conflict with “selected items”? Or am I missing something here?
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### Author:  [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2008, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-this-ad-mean/477638/7 "2008-12-18T00:57:05Z")
> [@Xema](#):
>
> And doesn’t “storewide” conflict with “selected items”? Or am I missing something here?
Zales is a chain. My WAG is that it means “selected items in every single one of our stores.”