We’ve all, at one point or another, felt the soul-crushing defeat of being lied to by a company. Maybe the product was broken upon arrival, or it didn’t live up to the advertisements . Regardless, it’s never a fun experience.
The pictures in this list show moments where people were lied to by product packaging or advertisements. From flashy tricks to factory mishaps, you’ll find them all here.
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“Spent 30min looking for the Power button on my new espresso machine… while also wondering why are there two ‘Grind’ buttons.”
Hopefully, it’s just a label error, and that button does still turn it on, but what a horrible thing to have an issue upon delivery. If I ordered a fancy new coffee machine and couldn’t use it right away, my rage would know no bounds.
“‘Assorted flavors’ […] this package of airheads came with only 1 blue raspberry and 1 cherry…the rest are watermelon.”
It is still assorted, technically. Even the most inconspicuous of things can have internal biases. Maybe this bag just likes watermelon, or likes the color green, you’re still getting an assortment even if it’s 95% one flavor!
“Almost lit a cigarette with this free lighter from a vendor my company uses.”
That must have given you quite the scare! Nothing like almost lighting your hair on fire out of the blue.
This would actually be a great way to help someone quit smoking. Give them a lighter that makes them too afraid to even try.
“False advertising and paying premium price plus ‘convenience charge’ for name brand while receiving an unheard-of brand.”
You know the off-brand is worse because they don’t even have a fun little dog mascot to endorse the drink. If a bulldog isn’t telling me to drink it, I don’t want it!
Also, what kind of vending machine charges a convenience fee? This has ‘scam’ written all over it.
“When you find out the hard way that the Italian restaurant’s hand sanitizer looks EXACTLY like olive oil.”
Hand sanitizer that looks like olive oil that, to top it all off, is being stored in a water spritzer made for plants. It’s like they did this on purpose to confuse people. They wanted to see just how many people would almost eat hand sanitizer, a dangerous game.
“My mom thought this would be good to store olive oil in so guess what I almost drank while having lunch.”
First, it was not olive oil being mistaken for olive oil, and now it’s olive oil being mistaken for not olive oil. Can people please just keep things in their normal containers instead of trying to get all fancy? It makes my head hurt.
“These are both the “same” apple juice.”
Many in the comments went on to explain that this was probably normal, as different apples can produce different colored juices based on factors like where they were grown.
That doesn’t stop it from seeming suspicious though, especially when they’re this different.
“This package of toilet paper Charmin forgot to perforate…”
Charmin has such a vice grip on the toiler paper industry that they could legitimately start doing this and no one would care. “We’ve been shoving ads down your throats for decades, you’ll buy us whether you want to or not, rip it yourselves.”
“The package vs. what I got.”
Isn’t this always the way with any sort of pocket-shaped microwave food? I feel like most of the Pizza Pops I buy are just like this, yet I keep crawling back every single time. Maybe I have a problem.
“Fruit delivery company says this pear is a whole serving.”
Serving size is relative. Maybe this fruit delivery company thought a baby was placing this order, so they delivered serving sizes accordingly! Sure, they were wrong, but at least it’s still edible. Better a tiny product than a wrong one!
“My bag of lump charcoal had a rock in it. Especially infuriating considering it’s sold by weight.”
Someone in the comments said that if you contact the manufacturer, they’ll likely send a coupon as this happens all the time when producing charcoal, but it’d be even better if they just send you a big piece of charcoal in a box to replace the rock with.
“Hmmm yes, a Filet-o-fish with a chicken patty. Lucky me…”
Whatever employee made this did you a favor. Who would ever choose a Fillet-O-Fish over any one of McDonald’s chicken sandwiches? You were rescued on this day, you should be grateful instead of complaining online.
“This coffee confused me at work one day.”
So, somewhere in between the ’30s and today, they stopped selling nuts, but didn’t think to change the name? They could be called Chock full o’ Coffee, it rolls of the tongue better and won’t confuse poor shoppers just looking for a can of coffee!
“This ‘Just Cotton’ yarn is also 15% Polyester…”
That really is a bold claim for them to be making when the truth is less than an inch below it. Maybe they’re hoping people will only read the big words and the little ones will fly right under the radar.
“What was advertised VS what I got for my niece’s Christmas from Walmart.com.”
The one you ordered is clearly just a baby, give it a few months and she’ll grow to be the size in the original photo!
That, or you have one extremely large hand. If you’re a family of giants, you should really expect this outcome by now.
“With face now available on the chest.”
Oh, awesome! Something I always wanted from my hyper-specific gingerbread man-shaped Peeps marshmallows was for their faces to be completely neutral and also on their chest. Now I’ll finally be able to enjoy Christmas time the right way, thanks Peeps!
“Pretty speckled candy canes I thought. Once you remove the wrapper, they’re actually quite boring.”
Something about thinking you’ll snack on a cute little polka-dotted candy cane only to remove the wrapper and see it’s just white is extremely bleak. Sure, it tastes the same, but the magic is gone now and it’s less satisfying.
“This bacon we bought that’s like 85% fat.”
Meat products especially should have an adequate amount of clear packaging to allow shoppers to see what they’re buying. The uploader said a large label covered most of the front, and the back was blacked out, which is trickery to the highest degree!
“My Boston cream donut left its icing in the bag.”
Everybody wants fresh pastries until they become a little too fresh, then you’re met with even more heartbreak as layers of it slip away from you. The only thing you can do is try to scrape the icing out of the bag like some sort of animal.
“My chocolate chip granola bar without a single chocolate chip.”
What is a granola bar without chocolate chips in them? Just a rectangle of oats? A brick of sadness? The snack equivalent of plain porridge and tap water?
Going to have one of these at breakfast to find it chocolate-less is a sign it’s going to be a grim day indeed.
