Was the Payless ("Palessi") Shoe store campaign for $600 shoes staged?

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Style Pass

2021-05-26 03:30:06

The web has been abuzz with the Payless stunt where they sold $20 shoes for $600 to so called "influencers" but I wonder if the influencers were real? It feels like a lot details are not shared. Did it help or hurt the Payless brand?

https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/payless-opened-a-fake-luxury-store-pales si-to-see-how-much-people-would-pay-for-20-shoes/

Modern marketing just seems to keep getting more convoluted and nefarious. I don’t think it’s too pessimistic to believe that anything really clickbait-y and shareable coming from a brand was probably staged.

Payless invested money in this stunt, so it seems unlikely that they would fail to ensure it was successful (by using actors rather than true “influencers” to make sure the reaction looked right).

On social media, nothing is what it seems. Just think of the video of a baby bear struggling to make it up a snowy slope that recently went viral. It appeared to be a pure moment of natural perseverance caught on camera. The bear slid down the slope multiple times, but never gave up till it reached the top.