Is this Columbia Sportswear Black Friday promotion a “deal”?

“The stores are trying really hard.”

A savvy shopper checking out the Black Friday deals at Columbia Sportswear made a telling discovery when she moved a price tag to reveal what was underneath.

Featured video

The video comes from TikTok user Kayla Salamon (@kaylasalamon) and received more than 474,000 views as of Thursday morning for a video posted on Monday. In it, she shows a rack of clothing in the store that says, “Black Friday Deals: Now $99.99.”

But she lifts the sign to reveal the sign it has replaced: “Special Price: Now $99.99.”

She audibly laughs at the revelation and then says, “That’s funny.”

On its website, the store advertises Black Friday offers of up to 40% off select items and 50% off so-called “Doorbusters.” According to the fine print, the Black Friday sale has been running since November 20th and will last until December 3rd.

What to look out for on Black Friday

A CNBC article published Tuesday warns: “The number of people shopping between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber ​​Monday could hit a record this year, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual survey. But that doesn’t mean consumers are getting the lowest prices of the season.”

The article goes on to say that according to a WalletHub report, “41% of items at major retailers offer no savings compared to pre-Black Friday prices.”

The article quoted Andrea Woroch, consumer savings expert, who said: “Some Black Friday deals are misleading as retailers may mark up original prices to make a deal appear cheaper.” It went on to point out that others are potentially fraudulent Practices such as creating a sense of urgency about product availability are not limited to Black Friday.

People’s reactions

Commentators commented on the seven-second video.

“Why I don’t shop on Black Friday,” said one cynically.

“And they wonder why people don’t buy as much as they used to and don’t go shopping as much as they used to,” another commenter echoed.

Another noted, “I was literally looking on the Walmart app yesterday for the deals that are starting soon and I saw a video game on November 25th that was $30, let’s say $30.”

Someone claims this is nothing new. They explained: “This has been happening for a few years and people have only noticed it in the last few years.”

Finally, one commenter noted, “The stores are trying hard.”

@kaylasalamon Advertising at its finest #blackfriday #shopping #deals ♬ Original sound – Kayla Salamon

The Daily Dot reached out to the creator via TikTok comment and to Columbia Sportswear via email.

Internet culture is messy – but we’ll break it down for you in a daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter. Get the best (and worst) of the internet delivered straight to your inbox.