It is estimated that in 2021 an average person might be exposed to as many as 10,000 ads per day. It seems like a lot, but when you think about it, ads bombard us on social media, TV, billboards, and even inside our fortune cookies. We get so used to them that we don't even notice.

One would like to think that marketing and advertising should bridge the gap between the seller and the buyer; make people trust the product and encourage them to use it. But their words often sound too good to be true. And they often are. If you see a big sign yelling “Everything's 30% off”, it might be designed to make you miss the small line at the bottom where it says that the offer applies to a handful of selected items only. Congratulations, you've just encountered false marketing.

This time, we will check out a few 'sometimes ridiculous, other times alarming and infuriating' marketing techniques that evil businesses use to take advantage of us and manipulate customers into buying more stuff. Continue scrolling and see these examples for yourself!

After you're done reading, don't forget to check out this previous Bored Panda post with 30 pictures that companies do not want you to see.

#1 Trashy Company

Image credits: mkbhd

#2 Man, That's Really Cheap... Oh

Image credits: LuMo096

#3 Went In For The $1.99 Lunch Special. Sorry Sir, That Says $7.99 Lunch Special

Image credits: JeffTrav

#4 And During A Pandemic

Image credits: Colon Brew

#5 By Opening The Envelope For The License Agreement, You Agree To It

Image credits: PandaKing185

#6 I Love Ads On My £250 Console That I Continue To Pay £6 A Month To Play On

Image credits: TS_Optics

#7 So Basically Every Price

Image credits: BrendanTFirefly

#8 I Live In Minneapolis, Some Jerk Is Leaving This In Tip Jars Around Town Ahead Of Trump’s Rally Today

Image credits: catherine_zetascarn

#9 I Have An Ad In My Fortune Cookie

Image credits: Full_Metal_Machinist

#10 Walgreens Replaced Their Freezer Window Panels With Screens That Constantly Flash/Move And Don't Even Accurately Represent What's Inside The Fridge

Image credits: catmomextraordinaire

#11 I Just Found 20 Tunisian Dinars (7.5 Dollars) On The Ground, Then After Opening It, It Was Just An Advertisement For Some Stupid Discount

Image credits: khalil-ammari

#12 Dish Network Sent Out Advertisements In Envelopes That Make It Look Like A Special Occasion Card

Also, trying to manipulate people by making the cards look handmade by a child.

Image credits: Pie-Makers-Mistress

#13 Packaging For These Markers

Image credits: Chev_350

#14 Walmart Employee Here. We Were Given These Shirts Today. Walmart Profits Billions Off Of This Pandemic, Then Compares Their Sacrifice To WW2 Veterans

Image credits: TehAwkwardOne

#15 Bought A Chicken Pot Pie Thinking It Was The Size Of The Outer Tin Before Cutting Into It And Seeing This Monstrosity

Image credits: ItRhymesWithFreak

#16 Sign The Contract Without Reading It Please

Image credits: cy6nu5

#17 I Just Got Ad In The Mail Disguised As A Hand-Written Letter. Address Is Covered So I Don't Doxx Myself

Image credits: pillager_of_poopers

#18 They Took Away The In-Store Signage To Force You To Download Their App

Image credits: JustDewItPLZ

#19 That Would Explain Why My Ankle Hurts

Image credits: ASAPxSyndicate

#20 New Cereal Box Is 11% Taller With 1.6% Less Cereal

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#21 My School Has Vending Machines With Candy That Costs 1.50. They Conveniently Leave Off The 1 So It Looks Like It Costs 0.50

Image credits: Lopad_NotThePokemon

#22 Please, Just Stop Using Fake Money As Advertising

Image credits: notbeatrizportinari

#23 This Packaging. Was Wondering Why It Ran Out So Quickly

Image credits: GreenCupcake23

#24 This “Dual” Camera Smartphone Doesn’t Have Two Functioning Cameras

Image credits: Funnyonol

#25 Got A Letter In An Envelope Which Said My Lease Was Terminated. Just Another Ad

Image credits: enderr920

#26 Nearly Didn't Notice The Cheapest Car Wash Program

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#27 Food Delivery Service That Tells You “Someone Is At The Door! Okay We Lied”

Image credits: kmartshoppr

#28 This "Gold" Chalk That My Daughter Received As A Gift. White Chalk Spray-Painted Gold

Image credits: Benci007

#29 The Mixed Signals Of This Shoe Sale Advertisement

Image credits: MNgirlinaNDworld

#30 Retail Sign At H&M Today. The Small Line Is Hard To Read In Person

Image credits: DarkRoastt

#31 I Got A Ticket. No, Just An Ad For A Tattoo Place

Image credits: Hummocky

#32 Unremovable Ads On My $2,500 Samsung Smart TV

Image credits: BrownLandlord

#33 My Mother Recently Passed Away. This Morning I Thought I Got An Email From Her. Nope, Just A Spam Tabloid Naming Their Contact "Mom"

Image credits: Raise_Master

#34 This Advertisement Designed To Look Like An Amazon Package

Image credits: Nic0lodeon

#35 Is That Really Free Delivery?

Image credits: theskyopened

#36 Advertise Free WiFi But Make Sure The Customers Know The Procedure For How To Pay For It

Image credits: mauricewilliams455

#37 What A Gimicky Way To Sell Less For The Same Price

Image credits: masterjkh

#38 This Company Re-Packages Sour Patches For A Jacked Up Price

Image credits: TenticaledGoose

#39 False Advertising Should Be A Felony

Image credits: anniemaymoo

#40 This "Avocado" Oil

Image credits: BoringGrass0

#41 Warranty Void Sticker On The Outside Of The Box

Image credits: PwnerifficOne

#42 This Vending Machine Is 100% Sold Out. It Only Tells You That Items Are Sold Out After You've Put Money In/Used Your Card

Image credits: Digiboy62

#43 This Post Card Is Made To Look Like It’s From The Dealership. It’s Printed To Look Like The Information Is Smudged So That You Will Call Them

It’s a third-party warrantee company.

Image credits: Darknight1993

#44 When You Thumbs Down Trash Like This On Netflix But It Keeps Coming Back At The Top Of Your Homepage

Image credits: wozmatic

#45 This Iron Man Blow Up Toy

Image credits: lalalovey

#46 Dollar Shave Club Makes Their Online-Bought Razor Handles Incompatible With Their In-Store Razor Refills

Image credits: mydiarythrowRA

#47 This Ad For Vitamin Water That Claims It Works Better Than Flu Shots

Image credits: AVATARKYOSHI617

#48 Amazon Making You Pay $18.99 Per Season, Henry Danger Only Had 5 Seasons But Amazon Stretched It And Made It 12 Seasons Each $18.99

Image credits: Skully_boi265

#49 Zoom In On The 5th Star

Image credits: reddit.com

#50 How To Dissapoint Every Student On Campus

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#51 A $6.95 E-Mail Delivery Fee

Image credits: LiterallyCannott

#52 This Will Make Me Order Food From You

Image credits: TAN_Man44cx

#53 Drop An "F" For All The Parents Who Will Buy This For Christmas, Not Knowing That The Game Is Free

Image credits: HugeSquirrel

#54 An "Empty" Ink Cartridge That Probably Could Have Printed Another 50+ Sheets

Image credits: Anonymous_None

#55 Film Producers: "We Need To Advertise We Have Multiple CGI Dragons." Marketers: "Say No More"

Image credits: is_it_a_lie

#56 Imagine Cleaning A Fan So Well That You Uncover 2 New Blades

Image credits: erkang06

#57 This Kettle Saves 70% Energy. As Long As You Need To Boil 70% Less Water

Image credits: UnlikeSome

#58 Saw These On Every Single Car Parked Behind Me Today Only To Realize I Had One As Well

Image credits: bs310

#59 Who Thought It Was A Good Idea To Put An Image Of 7 Churros For The Sign Of 3 Churros

Image credits: Imhereforgiofilmsbro

#60 Chipotle Goes All-Out Advertising That For The Next Week Delivery Is Free, And Then Casually Makes The Delivery Menu Priced Higher Than The Regular One

Image credits: Arucious

#61 Nordstrom Rack Is Trying To Sell These Sketchers As Magnannis? A Very Poor Job, No Less. Cool

Image credits: pepe-roni111

#62 The Sneaky “& Up” On The Sign Of My Local “Dollar” Store

Image credits: Bulbasaar

#63 Optimum Admail Tricks You Into Opening It With Fake Amazon Gift Card

Image credits: TheCrowsNestTV

#64 This Barbershop Advertises $12 Haircuts In Big White Font But Mentions A Very Important Detail In Small Black Letters

Image credits: XXLchris

#65 I Was Waiting For A Very Important Call And I Just Received This Notification From A Shopping App

Image credits: Waliya10

#66 Shrinkflation Used By Cadbury To Literally Cut Corners. The Bottom Chocolate Bar Is More Than 8 Percent Smaller

Image credits: Flying_Dutchmen_13

#67 Apple’s Proprietary USB An Extension Cable

Image credits: AberrantDevices

#68 120 Mbps Plan Has 100 Mbps Download Speed. When I Asked The Explanation On The Phone, They Said That "120 Mbps" Is Just The Name Of The Plan

Image credits: keben_

#69 So, Which Is It, Campbell's? 30% Or 40% Bigger?

Image credits: CivilizedPsycho

#70 Makes You Think It Has An IGN Award, Until You Read The Fine Print

Image credits: J_Bear

#71 NordVPN's Infinite "Only Now 70% Off" With A Fake Timer That Eventually Resets

Image credits: thedystro

#72 Your Virus Protection Expires Soon. Have A Popup You Can't Close With A Counter That Keeps Resetting To 200

Image credits: Sinderi

#73 Sneaky Bastards

Image credits: Knukun

#74 This Facebook Ad Which Has A Fake "+100" Which Makes People Click On The Ad

Image credits: No_Sink_4655

#75 Brand New Package Of Staples. Took A Note From The Chips People

Image credits: kalebdraws

#76 Diphenhydramine (Generic Benadryl) Costs $3 More When Marketed As A Sleep Aid Rather Than An Allergy Medicine

Image credits: 3Vishal

#77 Free App, Then Get Forced To Pay $80 When You Download It

Image credits: Gyxo25

#78 This Website Fakes A Chrome Error To Convince You To Disable Your Ad Blocker

Image credits: CatVsHumanity

#79 My $108 College Textbook Does Not Come With Binding To Make It Harder To Resell

Image credits: TheRedScot

#80 Wondered Why The New Pens Were Running Out So Quickly. Turns Out There Is No Ink, Just A Tip

Image credits: WholemealBean

#81 Notice The Extremely Small "Up To" Could've Fooled Me If I Wasn't At A Stoplight

Image credits: PuppyBaby15

#82 This Website Hilariously Just Stretches The Pixels To Turn Regular Clothing Into "Maternity" Clothing

Image credits: LurkeyMcLurkersen

#83 Found Two Of These On My Car Today. I Almost Freaked Out

Image credits: polite__redditor

#84 This Thing I Bought For My Son: You Don't See The Actual Toy Until You Open The Package. It Literally Advertises: "Seems Real!"

Image credits: llondru-es

#85 Interesting How The “Earn Up To” Isn’t The Same Font Or Dark Green Color As The “$13.50 An Hour”

Image credits: SouthwestTraveller

#86 Spend Two Dollars For 100 Pennies. What A Bargain

Image credits: karen_nfld

#87 My Wife’s Cell Phone Plan Was Automatically Signed Up For The 1GB Shared. The 3GB Shared Is Exactly The Same Price

Had to navigate manually to find this

Image credits: PM_ME_YOUR_3_WISHES

#88 Illusion 100

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#89 Got Me To Delete My Account There

Image credits: holyshitem8lmfao

#90 Plumbing Company Disguised As Missed Package To Get You To Call Them And Setup Appointment To "Test Water". The Blue Ink Was Printed On

Image credits: waldo_ku22

#91 This Pamphlet I Got On My Door Making Me Not Want To Touch My Doorknob Until I Realized

Image credits: yusefudattebayo

#92 I Thought A Pair Of NZ Police Vans Overtook Me On The Road This Morning. Then I Caught Up With Them On The Lights And Realized

Image credits: Sniperizer

#93 Nearly Had A Heart Attack

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#94 Local Market Trying To Trick Me

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#95 AT&T's New Deceitful Mailing Tactics Including Fake Handwriting, Coffee Stain, And Sticky Note

Image credits: councillleak

#96 Suddenly I Don't Trust All The High Ratings On My New Controller

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#97 Top Slice Of Bacon vs. The Rest In The Package

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#98 Bought "Genuine" Converse At A Market

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#99 I've Ordered Something From Flipkart. So I Panicked A Little When I Saw That 19 Missed Calls From Flipkart In Notifications. Too Bad Flipkart Is A Jerk

Image credits: DR_CHEESE1207

#100 These Items At A Dollar Store Are Basically The Same Thing In Different Packaging But The One On The Right Is Twice The Price

Image credits: MerGeek101

#101 This Is Printed To Look Like An Eviction Notice. Imagine Walking Up To Your Door And Seeing This Ad For Window And Door Replacements. During A Pandemic When Many Can't Pay Rent

Image credits: GodThesePretzelsSuck