Several popular retailers, like Target, Amazon, and Walmart, have purportedly been caught during Black Friday lying about the extent of the discounts on their products for the annual Thanksgiving time “marketing scheme.”
It seems like Old Navy has also been called out for being dishonest about its sale items, as shared by TikToker Geraldy Silva (@geraldysilva1). In her clip, she records a shopping experience she and her sister had at the popular clothing retailer.
While Silva seemed shocked at the pricing discrepancy in her viral clip that’s garnered over 2.5 million views as of Saturday, several commenters said that these kinds of practices are nothing new in retail.
Her clip begins with her showing clothes at the store placed next to placards boldly declaring 50% discounts on select items. Her caption doesn’t mince words when it comes to what she thinks about Old Navy’s deals: “Black friday is such a scam! @Old Navy Official like wtf is this????” she writes, tagging the chain in her comment.
She says in the video, “So me and my sister are at Old Navy and I was looking at these leggings and I was like, oh, look they’re half off right now for $10. $9.99, but then I look at this one,” she says, transitioning from a tag to another pair of leggings that has a tag with a $9.99 sticker.
“The tag before it says $5 and they put the $10 tag on top of it,” she says. The original sticker shows that the item was previously selling for $5.99. “Meaning that they marked these up to $10 to make it quote unquote $5 but in reality, it was always $5. Oh my God, Black Friday shopping.”
Judging by the price tags Silva shows in her video, the actual cost of the leggings would come out to $4.99, or about a dollar off of their regular price, meaning that the Black Friday deal isn’t as steep as some shoppers would have assumed.
There are numerous analysts who’ve long contended that Black Friday deals aren’t always what they seem and are more or less a ploy to get shoppers to come into stores and purchase items for identical or similar prices to what they were retailing for prior to the purported sales extravaganza. According to some, it’s best for consumers to simply avoid the retail holiday altogether, suggesting that consumers are better off making a list of things they actually want and need instead of going into stores and purchasing products simply because they think they’re getting a deal on them.
@geraldysilva1 Black friday is such a scam! @Old Navy Official like wtf is this???? #blackfridaydeals #blackfridayshopping #oldnavy ♬ original sound – Geraldy Silva Numerous viewers who replied to Silva’s video appear to share the same philosophy when it comes to Black Friday shopping. One person wrote, “Stores have done this for years on black friday, best sales are before black friday.”
Another person said that they actually ended up spending more money on a Black Friday product while shopping for the holiday, sharing, “One time I ordered a shirt online from old navy for $20.99 and when I received it, it had a clearance sticker for $7.99 lmfao.”
“A lot of stores do this,” someone else simply said.
For folks who were looking to shop for children’s leggings, another TikToker shared their advice: “Cat & Jack Leggins at Target are the EXACT SAME THING as Old Navy, but cheaper year round.”
Someone else recommended that Silva simply pull the sticker off of the tag and demand a 50% off discount when they were at the register. “I’d pull the sticker tag off! They still have to give you 50% off the $5!” they said.
While another confirmed the previous pricing Silva pointed out in her clip, saying, “Yup I bought my baby those leggings 3 weeks ago at $5.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Silva via Instagram DM and Old Navy via email for further comment.
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Source: https://www.dailydot.com/news/old-navy-black-friday-fake-sale/