Circuit City false or stupid advertising -- you decide
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Dec 2nd 2006 at 11:45PM }
Reader Audioeric sent in a couple issues he had with the latest Circuit City catalog. For starters, the catalog says "Playstation 3: Ready to rumble. It's hot." The first joke here is obvious considering the PS3 is the only next-gen console without a rumble feature to speak of. Then there is the awkward choice of using the word "hot" to describe any Sony product currently. Does Circuit City mean the PS3 is like Sony exploding battery hot? Jury is still out if these word choices were awkward mistake or if a Microsoft/Nintendo fanboy designer put together the page.The other weird thing is the turned-off Xbox 360 controllers playing, what is not a Xbox 360 Madden, on a projection television supposedly attached to the Xbox 360 by a USB cable ... say what? You can't plug an Xbox 360 to any display device through USB. That's just wrong.
[Thanks Audioeric]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Lee @ Dec 3rd 2006 12:06AM
Sadly, they have been running the same ad in various flyers claiming the ability to hook your game consoles up via USB for a few months now. I remember seeing an ad in the summer for it and thinking WTF.
RoB @ Dec 3rd 2006 12:25AM
Wow....I never post & I love the site but I had 2 speak up....your sounding a bit harsh....really cause the controller wasn't on?? Really...I'm sure that at the photo shoot they said "NO WAIT THE SYSTEM ISN'T ON!! I AM AN ARTIST AND EVERYTHING HAS TO BE TRUE 2 LIFE!" maybe they hate there job as much as we do and they just wanted 2 go home. And the football game?? does it REALLY matter!! Next your gonna tell me that no one else has ever lied or tried to miss lead the public in advertising?? Alert the Media! Call Fox 5! I mean I bought the beer and the body spray and the Hot girls DIDN'T magically appear. Hell I have herpes but I still don't have ANYWHERE nearly as much fun as those other people...anyway, I just figured that u guys should lighten up a little...it's just an ad.
Fortis @ Dec 3rd 2006 12:36AM
Uh hey RoB, lighten up a little.. it's just a Joystiq article.
Tyrese Gibson @ Dec 3rd 2006 12:45AM
11.5-ft. wide? Who measures a screen by width, let alone claim it's interfaced through USB....sheesh. Educated Editors FTW.
Matt @ Dec 3rd 2006 1:40AM
I'm gonna call stupidity on this one... if the ad editor doesn't know anything about games, this crap flies easily. I wish Gamestop would put out newspaper ads since our editors are the only ones that don't fuck up in EVERY SINGLE ad, but I guess that's what GameInformer is for :P
catgoat @ Dec 3rd 2006 1:18AM
I think the point is that these corporations could be hiring some game geek to moon light and edit their copy so they have accurate advertising. I'm sure SOMEONE SOMEWHERE who works for circuit city would jump at the chance.
heretrix @ Dec 3rd 2006 1:19AM
Circuit City is run by idiots..I preordered Gears Of War from them online and the day the game came out they sent me an email saying the game was delayed until January. They didn't even know the game was in stock in their stores..I walked into the store and bought it and just cancelled the preorder which online still had the game coming out in January...Morons.
Rob @ Dec 3rd 2006 1:25AM
back in my costco days we had some gaming chair and the models on the side were playing with 1 ps2 controller, a xbox-s controller, and an upside down n64 controller all in one picture to show off the chair.
Seriously, an upside down (backwards) n64 controller?
satoshi @ Dec 3rd 2006 1:51AM
lawlz at the n64 controller
reguy @ Dec 3rd 2006 1:46AM
@rob
hey i remember that chair, joystiq even had a post on the picture of the 3 different controllers. someone much more funny than myself said the guy with the n64 controller was just so good that he could take them on, upside and all
=)
Dignan17 @ Dec 3rd 2006 1:45AM
Wow, I really love this story. It looks like Circuit City's sales tactics have wormed their way right into the advertising department now. I like walking through that store and listening to the employees sell products to unsuspecting people who come in for assistance. Those guys will tell the customers ANYthing to get them to buy a product. If you listened to them, they have the most amazing technology in the world, as is evidenced by this magic 360 that connects to USB projectors.
The root of the in-store problem is that the sales people work on commission. So they're all fighting over sales and trying to get people to buy stuff they don't want. Yeah, commission gets the sales people motivated, but at least the employees at someplace like Best Buy don't care enough about their store to make people buy stuff they don't need :)
I'm just going by what I've heard. I had two friends who worked there and quite because it was so bad. I never shop there anymore (I've had a few bad experiences there - and I KNEW what I was doing around technology).
Aaron Robertson @ Dec 3rd 2006 1:55AM
Maybe by gaming machine they mean computer. And circuit city has elite skills to hack the wireless controllers to work with wireless usb and output video over usb.....
Or chalk one up to lazy people.
Hobo Rowe @ Dec 3rd 2006 2:17AM
Should probably explain Circuit City to you folks.
1.) No commission. They eliminated commission a few years back and laid off most of the skilled sales-folk. A lot of liars and con-artist types got laid off, but a lot of educated salespeople as well. Which leads into point two.
2.) No real training. Your training at Circuit City consists of sitting in front of an e-learning computer for about three hours and then getting stuck with some training guy who started there about three weeks before you did. And I can guarantee you the people making the ads and doing the buying were never trained on the product (beyond whatever the Sony PR guy is whispering in their ear at corporate luncheons) and couldn't care less about the X-Cube or whatever those kids are calling it.
3.) Hell yes you sell people crap they don't need. For several reasons. The first being you're told to. The second being you're brainwashed into believing every customer NEEDS protection plans and MONSTER(TM!) brand cables else their new TV may get angry and kill them in their sleep. And there may no longer be payment per sale, but incentives were long ago replaced by fear and they can sure as hell underschedule you. Nothing worse than checking the schedule to see you've been knocked from 30 hours to 12 because your CityAdvantage (the protection plan) penetration is below your target 6 percent.
Welcome to Circuit City!
Waffle Ninja @ Dec 3rd 2006 6:31AM
...
Since that projector is capable of using USB as an incoming video source AND audio source at once... Can it make pancakes to boot? I just love the fresh smell of pancakes.
epobirs @ Dec 3rd 2006 8:40AM
Actually... You can drive a display via USB.
http://www.everythingusb.com/tritton_see2_usb_2.0_svga_adapter.html
This works very well for someone who really needs to drive a second monitor but lacks a second video output port and cannot install one on the machine that has to be used. But nobody in their right mind would suggest this for games or anything else doing a lot of animation. The GPU used is very low end by today's gaming standards and the connection between GPU and system is glacially slow compared to even an elderly PCI video card. Plus the constant load on the USB creates some added CPU overhead.
But technically, given sufficent insanity for motivation, this could be made to work on game console with USB 2.0 ports. Heck, in a pinch it could even be made to work with USB 1.1 ports if you don't mind a display with a framerate in single digits or worse.
Izzy-B @ Dec 3rd 2006 10:23AM
I don't see anything wrong with Circuit Citys advertisement because obviously PS3 is the most expensive gaming console out right now so they want to make lots of money off the console because of the high price, so really think about it if you were someone who helped make the advertisements and there's this really expensive product out on the market and you want to make alot of money... you my friend awnser that. See how in the article they said "The first joke here is obvious considering the PS3 is the only next-gen console without a rumble feature to speak of". That's a funny statement to me because xbox 360 is the only console without motionsense, Sony has said that they replaced the rumble feature with the motionsense. Also there are big problems with the rumble feature such as if the game pauses the often the rumble feature is just activated ( you can use it as a massgier). Plus I have heard nothing about the rumble feature for the wii mote. PS3 may not be hot right now but once again I predict the console will be hot on the markest by march. If there's a system you won't with great graphics and fun shooters with great networking services it's gotta be the PS3.
Robert Shacklock @ Dec 3rd 2006 10:36AM
Circuit City has gone the same way that Silo's went years ago. They will tell a customer anything to get a sale. I agree that most salespersons at Circuit City are complete idiots. I also think customers should research what they are buying before they enter Circuit City or any other electronic store.
Having said that, I don't think the ad was intended to mislead anyone. Circuit City is just plain dumb and doesn't know any better. The add makes it seam as though you can just plug you gaming system right into a USB port and play. "Sorry, sir you will have to buy this overpriced cable to do that." Ask to see a console run off the USB and I assure Circuit City will not be able to do it.
I try not buy anything from Circuit City. I always feel like I just ripped off as I exit the store and most of the time it's true. Talking to the salespeople will send anyone with a shred of technical knowledge off the deep end. It's simply nothing but frustrating shopping at Circuit City.
Once again everyone must remember the old saying...Buyer Beware.
J. Knine @ Dec 3rd 2006 12:41PM
Our Circuit City used to be the place to go for everything. Well, if everything meant half @$$ed deals on electronics and hot little 20-something year old girls trying to explain things they didn't understand while enticing men to buy things because they were so darn cute. (And they were slightly better than Toys R Us, which is right next to them, because they actually had things in stock.)
I've been working so much lately that I really hadn't been back to the mall in over a year. The other day when I finally broke down and bought an Xbox 360 I went there. Store almost empty, no cute girls, nothing in stock -- no one at all even noticed me, when in the past they'd tackle you as soon as you came in the door especially if you had the "I'm here to spend $600 and go home semi happy!" look I had on my face.
I felt dejected. Then I got in the car and went to the new Best Buy up the road from them and got everything I wanted without having to deal with people.
So where did the cute circuit city girls go? Obviously, they've been bumped up to creating fliers and online ads and flirting with bosses who think they're so darn cute. Yo go girl!
k9
Exeter @ Dec 3rd 2006 1:04PM
I don't mind buying something from Circuit City every now and again--they sometimes have oddly low prices--but every time I have the misfortune to speak to one of their sales personnel, the conversation goes something like this:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/06/09
Ashok @ Dec 3rd 2006 1:40PM
So when i read "...a couple issues he had with the latest Circuit City catalog. For starters, the catalog says 'Playstation 3: Ready to rumble. It's hot.'" i thought that the error would be the fact they didn't write PLAYSTATION 3.
Firegirl @ Dec 3rd 2006 3:49PM
Circuit City is crap. My boyfriend and I went there yesterday to look for some 360 accessories and we couldn't find what we were looking for anywhere. We finally asked a store clerk who looked around for like 10 seconds before saying "We don't carry that item". After some looking around, we found what we needed in the Computer Accessories section, not in their gaming section. Huh?
The Wurx @ Dec 7th 2006 9:57PM
I really loved the Circuit City coupons that came in the Official Xbox Magazine a couple of months back... especially the one for $10 off GEARS OF WAR, which at the top of the coupon said "Coming Nov 8!" and on the bottom of the coupon said "Valid from 10/1 to 10/31."
Skwurl @ Dec 4th 2006 11:26AM
Since when did the saying 'ready to rumble' buy the exclusive rights to become a console controller only phrase?
Spidey @ Dec 4th 2006 11:11AM
"Playstation 3: Ready to rumble. It's hot."
I thought this meant that all the PS3's they had were stolen... because that was the only way they could get any in stock.
Linkreincarnate @ Dec 4th 2006 1:37PM
This is to be expected from curcuit city. I remember when I worked there I was put through the same "training" that everyone else is talking about. My problem wasn't the sitting in front of a computer with a guy hired a few weeks earlier, that's just the nature of retail training. My problem was the training materials were just wrong half of the time. According to circuit city the ps2 was more powerful than the gc from a hardware perspective. I told my manager and I was basically told I didn't know what I was talking about and to just stop talking about it. There were numerous other factual innacuracies but I didn't bring anymore up because I like eating.
Jeramy @ Dec 4th 2006 10:27PM
yeah, uhh, circuity city's track record has been off for a while now. personally, i think they just let complete idiots take control of their videogame ad department. b/c this is just stupid. not bullshit marketing, just stupid.
Jeff @ Dec 5th 2006 11:30PM
I have never had any problems working at ciruit ciry, and I have never been forced to sell people BS monster cables, I usually suggest that they go to walmart or ebay to buy their HDMI, Toslink, and svideo cables because monster is WAY over priced, also I havent gotten my hours reduced because I havent sold protection plans, I have sold maybe 10 in 2 months and no one bitched at me, also elearning is pretty pointless for me and people who already know the basics, but for some stupid people I know it would be good for them, also sales associates have nohting to do with the Ad's so stop bitching, also everyone in my store|(815) are pretty noledgeable and no one is stupid, they are all geeks, thats why we are on CC's top 5 list of best stores in the USA, we sell more per year, and have less reports to management for problems than any other store in the usa.
Jeff City @ Dec 25th 2006 11:44AM
Circuit City is not on commission.
Sales staffs are different at each location and although you have a negative experience at one store, this does not necessarily mean you will have that at all stores.
That would be similar to me telling any of you that your corporations "suck" because of a single poor experience with a single associate at a single store location.
If you would like to sell protection plans you can suggest them to customers, it is not a requirement. We have multiple departments that don't even acknowledge sales numbers. I personally like some of our protection plans, for example direct swap for units in the store for things that are heavily used and in more extreme environments, such as GPS Units or Subwoofers.
Complaints should also be aligned, because multiple have issues with not being noticed or helped by associates, but the same people claim that sales people will try and sell them things. All buyers should take part in some sort of product research and then come in to see the product as well as get any further clarifications and assistance they may need. They can get as much or little help as they would like, and the customer can dictate that by letting the salesperson know how much assistance they need.
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