The Games We Play: Advertising Chicanery Begins on '2018 Jeep Wrangler'

Late last year, I selected Jeep’s JL Wrangler as an Ace of Base once pricing for the snazzy new off-road rig was freshly announced.

That was 43 days ago, at which point I theorized that Wrangler shoppers would likely need to be weary of dealer bait-and-switch tactics, as both the new JL and the old JK are 2018 models. Specifically, I said:

Readers can be assured, then, of hearing hyper-caffeinated sales staff blaring in radio ads about ZOMG GREAT DEALZ ON 2018 WRANGLERS – only for frustrated shoppers to discover they are actually talking about the lame-duck Jeep and not the shiny new off-roader.

Well, that didn’t take long.

I know Twitter can be an utter cesspool of opinionated blowhards yelling into oblivion. Firing the contents of a bedpan off the head of a wharf into gale force northeasterlies has about the same result as going on Twitter for an hour. One generally ends up sad, frustrated, feeling dirty, and annoyed that they were silly enough to even do it in the first place.

Yet, I log in daily. Yesterday afternoon, the above tweet from Dartmouth Dodge showed up in my feed.

Alarm bells went off in this former car salesman’s head. A new Unlimited JL Wrangler is pictured amongst two JKs in a tweet advertising a $199 biweekly lease deal, pretty much mirroring my dire December predictions of the games dealers might play when two distinct models are both labelled by the factory as the same model year.

So, in the spirit of social media, I replied to the tweet.

Including the Unlimited JL Sahara pictured in Bright White? Or only 2018 JK's?

— Matthew the Car Guy (@matthewkguy) February 7, 2018

Typically polite Canadian, I know. But within a few minutes, I noticed they had deleted the original tweet and replaced it with another one mentioning different terms – 39 month lease instead of 36.

Fair enough. People make mistakes on Twitter all the time covfefe. It’s completely logical to delete and then re-issue a corrected message. But the same three images (two JKs and a JL) remained.

Dartmouth Dodge replied to my question with a question of their own, asking the following:

Hi Matthew, I think you're referring to this one? https://t.co/FeW3yOq4qQ

— DartmouthDodge (@DartDodgeNS) February 7, 2018

To which I replied:

Hi. I appreciate the reply, thank you. Does the 'starting at $199b/w for 39mos' deal extend to the new JLs? Both the old and new Wranglers are 2018s, so thought I'd ask for clarity. Cheers.

— Matthew the Car Guy (@matthewkguy) February 7, 2018

Now, it’s their answer to this follow-up question, which was simply a clarification of my initial query, that irked me to no end.

The three Jeeps pictured match up with the three links posted.

— DartmouthDodge (@DartDodgeNS) February 7, 2018

Not an overly helpful reply, in my opinion. Yes, of course the three links match up to the three Jeeps posted. I’m not an idiot. It also wasn’t my question. Now, I simply feel like a student who’s been chastised by the teacher and Dartmouth Dodge is still no closer to answering my original query: does the “starting at $199 biweekly” deal apply to both the new and old Wranglers? Here is their link to a $55,000 Wrangler for you to peruse. Here are some more. Think you’ll get any those for the advertised $199 biweekly?

I feel their initial replies were vague, designed to draw a person in to the dealer where I could be four-squared. Or perhaps it was just the product of a harried employee who had the responsibilities of Twitter dumped in their lap on top of an already busy day. Neither is overly helpful to a customer.

After thanking them last night, they replied this morning with a cheerful invitation to call them.

If you have any questions, feel free to call. Someone will be happy to answer. Have a great day!

— DartmouthDodge (@DartDodgeNS) February 8, 2018

Look, I’m not here to pillory dealers in general or to suggest Dartmouth Dodge is actively involved in nefarious trickery. It simply rankles me that a) my December assertions came to mind and b) the dealer did not fully clarify their ad when given a chance to do so.

There are plenty of great dealers out there. Truro Nissan right here in my town springs immediately to mind, as does the FCA shop here by the name of Blaikies Dodge. I’m sure there are many more examples, but I can definitively say the sales department in both of those stores go out of their way to accommodate customers, creatively market themselves, and steer clear of intentional obfuscation.

What do you think? Part of me is of the opinion that, with my age advancing and my hair receding, I’m just being contrary-minded. The other part – the part that abhors stupid games and opportunistic behavior – thinks any form of potentially confusing advertising should be quashed.

I’ll leave it up to you to decide. Mountain? Or molehill?

[Images via Twitter]