“There’s so much more to the new Shaw’s!” the Boston-based grocery chain’s current slogan boasts. It’s calling attention to its lower prices, cleaner stores and “card-free savings” – but presumably, it wasn’t looking to call attention to the fact that it’s apparently laid off the proofreader in charge of looking over the weekly sales circular.
Shaw’s shoppers (and grocery-shopping grammarians from all over) are playing “spot the screwups” this morning, as they look over the new ad that starts today.
Have a look at the gems that sharp-eyed shoppers have found so far (click on any of the images to enlarge):
Oh, but they’re not all just spelling mistakes. Some are a bit more subtle, like this one, which suggests that for just 79 cents, you can get 14 pounds (225 ounces) of McCormick seasonings:
And this decidedly less subtle math mistake, which offers a selection of products at 2 for $3 – or “$2.50 each”:
“Wow, those are really embarrassing,” a Shaw’s spokesperson admitted on Facebook, when some of the errors were brought to the store’s attention. “That Mega Sale must have crossed a few proofing eyes.”
If you can get past the typos, better make your shopping list quickly. Because unless you have a time machine, the ad says today is the only day to take advantage of the sale. That’s because, according to the dates printed in the ad, it runs backward in time, from today through last July 18th:
Oops, Shaw’s says, that should actually be August 8th. After that, there will be a new weekly ad. Hopefully one that they’ve sent through a spell checker first.
Here’s another one:
How in the world is Osteo Bi-Flex a back to school item?
This sort of thing really bothers me. When I point out errors such as this, most young people say, “It doesn’t matter. You know what I meant.” With all the airplane accidents, mass transit accidents, plant/warehouse explosions, etc., we are seeing so much of now, I wonder if the problem was that someone involved thought close was good enough. When you stop paying attention to details, there can be real consequences. It’s a slippery slope!
We spotted another one. Maine Broccoli.. on the front page it says .88 lb. and near the end it states $1.29 lb. I want the .88 lb! lol.
Good catch! Hopefully they don’t print their ads too far in advance, or we could be in for many weeks of this…