Since the publishing of this post, PhotoXpress provided an explanation, I am sharing it with the readers at the end of this post. I declined their offer, but you might want to call them on it. After all, truth in advertising matters.
Truth Matters in Advertising
Why do companies resort to questionable practices just to get a few customers? Marketing is not about getting customers at all costs; it is about offering the greatest satisfaction to them within the boundaries of societal norms, laws, and ethics. Otherwise, every marketer would be a con man, and some may think that it is already the case. As a professor of marketing, this is how I see the profession.
On the back cover of the last issue of Layers Magazine was an ad. The tagline caught my attention, and I first applauded the company. They did the first thing right by getting my attention. It said “15,000 Photo Downloads Per Month for $9.99 /month“. That is a great offer, nay, a terrific one. Then it continued with “Rendezvous with 6.5 million images. Prices beyond words.”
A nice photograph accompanied the words. I decided to check out their website and found an attractive Web site at photoXpress.com. You may want to check out their claim yourself. Realizing that I may send some people to their site despite my intention to the contrary, I am providing the Web address and the ad that I scanned for you to be the judge.
What I found on the site did not seem to have anything to do with their claim in the ad. If you paid $9.99 per month you would be entitled to 1 (one) download per day, amounting to thirty downloads per month. Closer to 15,000 than zero! The “Monthly 25” plan gave you 25/month for $37.50/month. And so on. The mismatch between the ad and the reality was obvious. I wanted to find out more and I wrote a message to them from their “Talk to us” form and asked where I might find the advertised subscription plan. In a day or two, I got the following answer:
Note: Apparently PhotoExpress became Fotolia and was purchased by Adobe. I have rendered the URLs unclickable but left them for reference.
Your ticket “Subscriptions / 15,000 photo downloads per month for $9.99/month” has been answered.
Hi, thank you for your e-mail. Please feel free to visit our new Subscription Plans section http: // www.photoxpress. com/Info/Upgrade Note that our minimum plan is for $9,99 and currently we have over 15,000 photos available on the site. Kind regards, PhotoXpress C.S. Department Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ PhotoXpressFree Join us on Facebook: https: // www.facebook. com/ PhotoXpress
Or read your answer by logging into your PhotoXpress account and clicking here:
https: // admin.photoxpress. com/Member/Support/QuestionsBest regards,
The PhotoXpress. com Team
I did not find the answer to my question, and I was a bit more confused especially by the explanation of 15,000 photos. They have more, much more than 15,000 photos, so the use of that figure sounds a bit, well, arbitrary to me. (Their Facebook page reports “Nearly 10 million Photos and Illustrations.”) One category I clicked on, Food & Drink, yielded 889,917 hits.
Truth be told, I did not count them! But defending the claim “15,000 photo downloads” by simply saying they have more than 15,000 photos is on shaky grounds, don’t you think? Why stop there, go ahead, and say “150,000 downloads per month” as there are more than that many on the site?
Not having an account there, I had no way of logging in to read the response. If there was more to it, I could not see it. So, I replied to their [email protected] address in the mail footer and reminded them that they had not answered my question and I was primarily interested in the truthfulness of their claim. I also asked that they kindly replied to my e-mail rather than posting an answer I had no way of reading. As you may imagine, I have not yet heard from them, and I am not holding my breath.
Will I ever buy anything from them? Most likely not! I don’t know about you, but if someone talks in a confusing manner, even before the first rendezvous, I get a bit uneasy! I wanted to learn a little more about the membership and started reading their FAQ, nicely organized with a TOC at the top. I clicked on number 7 “Daily quota and Downloading” which jumped to the relevant entry #7 where I found “7. [Intentionally deleted] ” (as of January 8, 2011). Come again!
They have a decent quality collection, images appear to be of decent quality, the variety seems to be there. Why did they use the obviously misleading claim? Could it be an overzealous ad agency? Perhaps an intern came up with the idea, and nobody thought of critically reading the short copy. Whatever the reason, I hope someone pays attention to this problem and takes corrective, and proactive action. An explanation of this ad will be a good start. Truth in advertising is not just an empty idea. It is the law, and it needs to be upheld by everyone, buyer, and seller if we expect to benefit from marketing communications.
Now, let me share this with my colleagues to use in the marketing ethics discussions …
PhotoXpress offers an explanation
Hello Cemal,
Let me extend my sincerest apologies to you as well as an explanation regarding the ad.
Lead times for ad placements are usually 2-3 months in advance so what you seeing are the last ad drops for our old offerings. Because of this lead time, no changes can occur after the dates so when we made changes to the plans on our site, these ads were committed to run.
In any case, we are able to honor the offer to you if you wish. Could you confirm your username?
Leo Tran
Business Development Manager
PhotoXpress. com
Seda Gokoglu
As one starting marketing communication, and as a person who is currently interning and who has many friends interning, I would like to state that us “mar-comm newbies” challenge these practices on a daily basis (many times with unfulfilling responses/answers to the questions and points we pose). We sit in class, at the dinner table, over a beer, wherever, and try to figure out why it is that companies continue to use questionable marketing strategies. PhotoXpress may have a point in their 2-3 month lead-time, but companies surely know the period of time that their ads will be run, and it would be common sense that the promotion run for another month (or period of time) after the last issue date of printed material. I am completely put-off by their attempt to write this off and shut you up by offering you this exclusive offer. Additionally, I question if the offer was ever really available, as there is no sign of the offer having been around in any research.
… and what’s worse is that we “mar-comm newbies” have to earn our way somehow, and sometimes we have no choice but to accept jobs at such companies. Personally, I’m too stubborn and would rather be poor and hopeless than use shady marketing strategies, but we have to do our time in order to earn the truly influential titles that will help us change the industry for the better. Until then, though, I would like to be able to sleep at night… my morals get the best of me. ;-)
A. Cemal Ekin
Seda, moral stands eventually beat immorals, it is not an easy battle though. I have just finished a conversation with another “customer disservice” department and will write that as well. Upholding the moral values and the law is a responsibility all of us should feel.
You are correct in questioning their response, so did I. I also would like to point out that I did not take their offer of granting me 15,000 downloads for $9.99 per month as I perceived it as an exclusive offer to me, hush money if you will.