Games advertisers play

I'm always amazed by the games stores play with the copy in their sale flyers to try to convince us that their prices are great. I was reminded anew of this trend today by the Big Lots flyer in my Sunday paper, the source of the first ploy on my list:

1. Compare to $xx.00! Almost every item in a Big Lots flyer is tagged with this vague phrase. "VistaQuest Digital Camera, $59, Save 34%. Compare to $89.99!" Well, yeah, compared to $89.99, the $59 price tag is 34% less.Does that mean I'm "saving" 34%? Only by comparison to actually buying this camera at $89.99 somewhere else, and I doubt that it ever sold for that anywhere. I mean, look, I've never even heard of the "VistaQuest" brand before. And the ad doesn't say it ever sold for that price; it just invites you to compare two numbers, one of which is larger than the other.
   
2. Why pay $xx? This used to be a favorite of the Value City discount store here in Virginia Beach, though it fell out of favor well before the store's demise. "Ladies' coats, $25! Why pay $49?" screamed the flyer. Um, because a $49 coat from somewhere else might be better quality than your $25 coat? The implication, of course, is that this exact same ladies' coat sells for $49 in some department store, so why pay that price when you can get it at Value City for half that. See #1.
   
3. ValuPrice! The Farm Fresh supermarket chain's weekly flyers are loaded with items labeled "ValuPrice" (no, the missing "e" isn't a typo; I assume it stems from the chain's parent company name, SuperValu). Never mind that Food Lion is advertising the exact item at 10-20% less this week – I'm gonna buy it from Farm Fresh because they say right here the price is a "Valu". Would they lie?
   
4. Like Paying $x! This one needs a bit more context; it's Walgreens' Register Rewards hype. "M&M's Candy 2/$5, $1 Register Rewards Good on Next Purchase, Like Paying 2/$4." Putting aside the ungrammatical nature of this particular example (it should be "Like Paying $4/2"), no, it's not like paying $4. It's like paying $5, and getting a short-term $1 coupon that you can't use anyplace else, so you have to buy something else on another trip to the store within a very limited time period.
   
5. Our lowest price of the season! Lots of stores pull this one, though Target is the one I noticed this week. "ClosetMaid 9-cube organizer, $34.99. Our lowest price of the season!" First off, is this the lowest price they've had so far this season? Or the lowest price they're ever going to have this season? And by the way, what season are we talking about? Summer? Almost over. Fall? Hasn't officially started yet. Back to school? Nebulous. I'm pretty sure this come-on is utterly meaningless.
   

What's your "favorite" advertising come-on?