Open Post: Hosted By Payless Tricking A Bunch Of Influencers
Next time you want to talk shit about your girl picking up some Payless shoes for a quick night out, THINK TWICE, honey. Because the retailer has just won the crown for being the trickiest bitch of the month. How did they do it? By finessing a bunch of snobby “influencers”. Justice thy name is Payless.
Fortune is reporting that Payless recently took over a former Armani store in Santa Monica, CA. This wasn’t the site of their new location, though. It was the site of their latest scam!
They lined their shelves with Payless shoes and invited the gliterrati to the event. That’s people who matter. That’s the cool kid. That’s influencers. Yes, every rich white girl and ethnically ambiguous Instagram model in Santa Monica descended upon the store, ready to spend their hard earned-soft stooled Tummy Tea money on some shoes. But they didn’t think they were buying Payless shoes. They thought they were buying from some high-end designer named Palessi.
The influencers in attendance were spending between $200 and $600 on shoes. But the gag was that these were not Palessi shoes because Palessi doesn’t exist! The shoe, which sounds like the official strappy-sandal supplier of the Khaleesi, is a fraud! Really they were just selling actual Payless shoes worth around $20 to $40, yet the influencers were calling the shoes “sophisticated” and “made with high-quality materials”.
The company claims the goal was not to embarrass these people, but to remind customers that Payless “is a place to shop for affordable fashion.” They sold more than $3,000 worth of shoes during the first few hours open, and the reactions of the shoppers will be featured in television and social media ads.
And no, people didn’t actually get scammed out of their money: the influencers won’t actually get charged for the shoes but they do get to keep them.
Honestly, slow clap for Payless. This has been the best gag against influencers since poop warrior Jameel Jamil’s battle to take down the Flat Tummy Tea pimps.
Watch influencers get duped below:
Pic: YouTube