Context: Every week, we get piles and piles of advertisements in our tiny college mailboxes. Do we ever really look at them? No. When I went to check the mail a few days ago, one of the annoying ads fell out of the pile and started to blow away. Lest I be labeled a litterer, I chased after the offending paper, though I wasn’t thrilled to be doing so.
Summary: When I picked it up, I noticed it was another one of those Arby’s ads with coupons boasting 2 Fish Sandwiches for $5, 3 Beef ‘n Cheddar Sandwiches for $5, or 4 Regular Roast Beef Sandwiches for $5. The title of the obnoxious ad: “Arby’s $5 Buck Roundup.” If you turn over the ad, the back has several coupons with the five-dollar deals printed on them.
Analysis: Honestly, there’s not a whole lot you can buy with $5 anymore. Five dollars will barely even get you a McDonalds value meal. So this is a pretty good deal right? I mean, say you’re a married couple in college, tired of cooking your meals—Arby’s is a great place to go
and get three beef ‘n cheddar sandwiches for five dollars. Voila! There’s dinner for two. But wait a second…what about the fact that once you get there, you’re going to realize just how little food three beef ‘n cheddar sandwiches constitutes. Besides, once you’re there, you’ll want some Arby’s curly fries…and some drinks…and that new chocolate turnover thing looks pretty good…and BAM! All the sudden you’ve spent ten dollars on top of the five dollars you spent on your beef ‘n cheddar sandwiches. Precisely what Arby’s wants you to do. You poor college students—roped into the “$5 buck roundup!” And, to add to the irony, you didn’t even have to bring in your carefully cut coupon. Arby’s deals are open to anyone, regardless of whether or not they are in possession of a
coupon, the ad just includes coupons to make you feel special.
Educational Context: This is a perfect example of deceptive, yet effective advertising. Arby’s may eat some money on the production costs of the three beef ‘n cheddars you can get for $5 (although that’s doubtful), but in the end, they get plenty of money out of their customers because they know that 3 beef ‘n cheddars just won’t cut it once you enter the actual establishment. Helping students understand the language of advertising is helping them understand a part of the media world they will constantly deal with. If that theoretical college couple had asked themselves questions about the ad and really thought it through, or if their teachers had taught them about advertising schemes, perhaps they would have stayed home and made their own beef ‘n cheddar sandwiches for a much better price.
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