An elaborate advertising prank by discount retailer Payless ShoeSource is raising eyebrows and important questions about the ability of marketers to manipulate consumer behavior. The ruse took place in a mall near Los Angeles, where a select group of social media influencers were invited to a private launch party for new Italian shoe designer Bruno Palessi. But after the fashionistas paid hundreds of dollars for what they though was fancy footwear, they discovered they had been duped.

Payless pulled off the marketing ploy to highlight its newest shoes, which are inexpensive designs available at its stores. After making the purchases, shoppers were taken into a back room, told of the trick and given the shoes for free. Cat Chang, a fashionista who attended the event, told The Washington Post that Payless “had us fooled, like completely.” But it made her rethink the Payless brand and she plans to visit a store soon. The idea came from a Brooklyn marketing company, DCX Growth Accelerator, which specializes in what it calls “cultural hacking.”

Although the stunt was designed to draw attention to the Payless brand, it has wider implications. The Knowledge@Wharton radio show on Sirius XM invited Wharton marketing professor Barbara Kahn and Ludovica Cesareo, assistant marketing professor at Lehigh University and an expert on the luxury market, to discuss the lessons marketers can learn from the stunt. (Listen to the podcast at the top of this page.)

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