Punk’d in the Pocketbook 0
You may have heard about the Payless Shoe chain’s “Palessi” prank, in which Payless invented a tony ersatz brand, “Paylessi,” and gulled folks with more money than sense into paying hundreds of dollars for $20 shoes.
At Psychology Today Blogs, Utpal Dholakia draws three lessons from this. Here they are; follow the link for a detailed discussion of the Paylessi prank and of each of these items.
- We should be skeptical of recommendations given by influencers and so-called experts.
- We should treat brands like wrapping paper on a Christmas present, not the present itself.
- When making a purchase decision, we should pay attention to the product features that really matter.
Aside:
I used to buy Payless shoes when I had a house full of kids and a wallet full of not much of anything. No, Payless shoes are not as good as, say, for example, Bostonians.
I once had a sole separate from a Payless shoe. That’s when I learned that shoes that are glued together, not sewn, cannot be repaired.
I guess I got my $25 from those shoes, but I’ve gotten a lot more than $125 from my Bostonians. Heck, I’ve got one pair of Bostonian wing-tip Oxfords that’s two decades old and still going strong.
