Truth in Advertising: Explain to me again how the third movie is free?

This past weekend, I went to my local Target to buy the "Underdog" movie for my son. However, when I went to the DVD section to look for the movie, I found that they were out of the movie. Unbeknownst to me, this was a popular movie with the under 10 set.


The price tag below the empty space where the movie should have been read "$19.99," which I find is the average DVD price at Target (and also at WalMart, Kmart and other mass retailers). The guy who worked in that department said that he thought that more were coming in next week, although he wasn't sure when.


I didn't want to wait, especially on a "maybe," so I decided to go across the street to the Menlo Park Mall and visit the Barnes and Noble. Surely they would have it in stock.


And I was right-they did have it in stock. On top of that, there was a DVD sale going on that weekend-Buy 2, get 1 Free. Wow, that seemed like a great deal. Lucky me! I picked out 2 other movies and went to pay for my items. I was thinking: I can get 3 movies for about $40 plus tax (each one would come out to $13.32). After all, that's what the other stores are charging-right?


Boy, was I wrong! When I got to the register, the DVDs rang up at $29.99 each. With their special sale, I would pay $59.98 plus tax for 3 movies. If I'm doing my math right, that's $19.99 each. Isn't that what Target and the others are charging?

Needless to say, I told them to keep it. I really only wanted to buy 1 movie anyway.

Am I missing something, or was Barnes and Noble trying to pull a fast one? They are a big company with alot of employees, so I'm sure that at least one of those employees must have the job description of keeping track of what the other stores are charging for their books & CDs and what kind of sales they have. Surely they can't be oblivious to the pricing structure in their markets and amongst their competitors. I can't think of any other explaination for their sorry excuse of a "sale" other than 1: let's see how stupid our customers are and what they'll fall for or 2. we're too lazy or uninspired to think up a new marketing strategy. Either way, it's not good.