Categories: Culture

Affordable Shoe Shop Tricks People By Opening A Fake Luxury Store

"If advertising has high production qualities, people will think it's better."

People rave so much about luxury items as many connect them to high quality and popularity. A consumer’s logic is quite simple: expensive means good, cheap means bad.

With that in mind, a shoe shop called Payless put this logic to the test. The discount store decided to open a one-off store in LA called Palessi and the result was shocking.

The temporary boutique was set up for one incredible prank — and a funny commercial, which was uploaded to YouTube. The ad shows the opening of Palessi, or shall we say Payless’ fancy alter-ego.

Arriving in posh Santa Monica, the budget footwear company took over the space of a former Armani store, lining the walls with their $19.99 heels and $39.99 boots. With a new location and a foreign-sounding name, buyers were easily fooled into thinking that the items were expensive.

With the help of agency DCX Growth Accelerator, Payless invited some influencers to Palessi. This is when it got interesting.

“I would pay $400, $500. People are going to be like, ‘Where did you get those? Those are amazing.’” a woman said as she tried on a pair of bright-gold sneakers with leopard prints.

However, customers were quickly informed that the “designer” shoes they were drooling over were actually from Payless, their reactions were priceless.

Sarah Couch, Payless’s chief marketing officer, said:

“We felt like this campaign would be a great way to get a lot of people to consider Payless again, and to realize it’s more than just a shoe store in the mall … The way that we evaluate things is through associations. If you put wine in a nice bottle, people like it more. If you package things up to look more premium, people will like it more. If advertising has high production qualities, people will think it’s better.”