Deceptive Advertising

"Auction Today"? Not Exactly

I spent a good chunk of today's broker tour going through a 90 unit condo project in St. Louis Park. (If you didn't know, Realtors spend a part of each Tuesday looking at all the new properties on the market, in a ritual called "Broker Tour.")

The condo complex caught my eye because a unit in the building looked like a good fit for one of my clients.

However, once I got to the building, all I saw were very big, very conspicuous signs announcing "Auction Today." It seemed odd: the building was empty, there were no cars in the parking lot, and yet there was supposed to be an auction?

It turns out, the company's Web site is:

wwww.AuctionToday.com

Be honest -- did you notice the "www" and the ".com"? And yes, all that signage did get me to look at the condo's that are going be auctioned (bidding's an entirely different matter -- but that's the subject of another post).

It reminds me of a Mad magazine cartoon, vintage 1968, where a would-be playboy goes around trying to entice women with the line, "I named my new yacht after you." Sure enough, the last frame of the cartoon cuts away to the name plate on the boat: "After You."