Heat Surge ad
Wow, that didn’t take long.
The News and Observer has gone to the bottom the barrel again by running yet another advertisement that misleads its readers into thinking they can get something for nothing. In spite of me calling the newspaper out earlier for the misleading “free $2” ad, the paper has continued to take money from the shady Universal Syndications company for its misleading ads.
As with the $2 bill ad, there are plenty of consumer complaints about this advertisement. One only has to check the websites of Consumer Reports and the Better Business Bureau to find them. Bloggers have documented the issues with these ads. Consumer Affairs has covered them. The Columbus Dispatch dig deeper into the story, interviewing the poor people who were duped by the deal:
Minutes later, White was told that she had been charged $396, or $40 for each cabinet and $150 for each heating unit. She objected, but the sales representative told her that prices were listed in the ad and it was too late to remove the charge from her credit card.
There are plenty of resources available to the poor and elderly to help keep them warm this winter, such as Resources for Seniors’ weatherization program and other programs. To run an ad designed to swindle money from these vulnerable groups is absolutely inexcusable.
On the News and Observer’s editorial page are the words of the paper’s publisher, Josephus Daniels:
“I advise and enjoin those who direct the paper in the tomorrows never to advocate any cause for personal profit or preferment. I would wish it always to be ‘the tocsin’ and to devote itself to the policies of equality and justice to the underprivileged. If the paper should at anytime be the voice of self-interest or become the spokesman of privilege or selfishness it would be untrue to its history.”
My how times have changed.