Coupons and promotions are great things to get customers into a store and to get our attention, but sometimes you have to stop and say, “Wait a minute.” Here are two cases of inauspicious promotions that readers have spotted lately: a stack of worthless coupons, and a gift card advertised at its face value.

Reader Mike spotted this stack of coupons at grocer H-E-B that are simply a waste of space and paper. “They printed tons of coupons just to sell Dawn at the regular price,” he grumbles. The coupon implies that customers have to buy two bottles in order to get the sale price, so it might even be a worse deal.

Meanwhile, Flickr user jguzlecki spotted this interesting shelf tag at Target.

Now, we know that “as advertised” doesn’t mean that something is on sale necessarily. Perhaps there was something in the circular about how Target sells gift cards, and that earned the card this “as advertised” badge.

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