Illinois says Great America falsely advertising

Maybe somebody in the New Jersey state offices should also notice that every ad for Nitro is a picture of Goliath! Hell, it's not even the same manufacturer! If thats not false advertising then what is? In fact most every ad for GAdv is a generic SF ad with most coasters not even at that park.

I hate that. Six Flags Over Texas advertised the hell out of Titan before it was open. Billboards, commercials, print ads .. all saying "New for 2001". I'm sure SFGAm did the same thing.

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Jeremy Murphy
http://www.lonestarthrills.com
http://members.nbci.com/xcoaster1

You can plug the ride before it's open. That doesn't matter, as long as they're telling you when it will be open. It sounds like the SFGAm ads imply that Deja Vu is open and operating, and that's not cool.

Regarding ads that contain other rides, that's not false advertising. 99.9% of the public don't know the difference.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com

I knew this would happen to some park, some where.

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Jes
Webmaster, Jes's Roller Coasters
http://www.jesms.cjb.net

Volleyguy: If you mean the picture on their website, that is a picture of the Raging Bull.

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Ozzfest 2001: The greatest show on earth!

SFWoA's vacation guide uses a photo of ROAR in place of a VILLIAN photo. It's funny because the train clearly says ROAR.

RagingBullGuy- I am referring to the neverending television ads that we have here in New Jersey.

P.S. i should be out to ride the Bull in Sept! Can't wait!

Jeff-If 99.9% of the gp doesn't notice, what if just ONE does? doesn't that person have a case to complain that they were misled?
MMMMMM-sounds like the old "bait and switch" at Crazy Eddies!!

Misled for what? Are you going to complain because you're getting a B&M hyper instead of one from Giovanola? Don't you see the shear absurdity of that?

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com

I'll point out that we as coaster freaks are more in tune with the latest on what is open and what is not, but the GP doesn't know the difference. SFGAm has been advertising "two new coasters - one spectacular year". Now that SFGAm is in season, the GP thinks DejaVu is open, when it is not. I can understand the State's beef. The ads DO imply it is now open, which is false advertising.


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First we Rock - Then we Roll!

Actually, all I have been seeing on TV is a Vertical Velocity comercial. The only thing that is misleading that I have seen is two "History Making" bilboards that states "2 coasters in 1 season", or something like that. That is the only thing that is false advertising that I have seen. I'd assume that that would make the GP think Deja Vu was open...

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Let the bears pay the Bear Tax, I pay the Homer Tax.

*** This post was edited by Coaster Xtreme on 6/28/2001. ***

Geez.. If ya listen to the radio all ya hear is the history making record breaking commercial, and it does make it sound like both coasters are open. Now that is false advertising!!

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I love the American Eagle at SFGRAM!!!!

In the very beginning of the Season, the commerical ads did show both new coasters (V2 and Deja Vu). In fact, the computer simulation for Deja Vu was in it.

But now, all the commericals on tv are for V2. But, there are quite a number of Billboards in the Chicagoland area have the "Record Breaking, History Making" wording, and both logos are on the sign.

(Side Note: I actaully saw a CEDAR POINT! billboard in the chicagoland area..if you head south on I-294 from O'Hare the sign will be on your left between I-90 and I-88. Kind of odd since SFGAm is about 20 miles from that sign, and CP is well over 5 hours from there)

So, SFGAm did take steps on their own (I believe) since they did change the tv media to only talk about one coaster. In fact, on the I-94 Marquee they only talk about V2 as well. No mention of Deja Vu.

Also, at the front of the park, where they post which rides are closed for the day, it does clearly say "Deja Vu" on all of the signs.

I wonder if it just takes that much more time to go and change the billboards? Maybe there was some kind of contract or something that said that the sign could not be removed during a specific time frame? Since I'm not in adversting, I just taking guesses here, but it appears that the park did start to take some action.

I do agree that it is false advertising on the parks part to give the GP the impression that both coasters are operational. But, as some have said before me, when the media needed to be delivered (to the TV stations, radio stations, newspapers, etc) they probably had no idea about the kind of delays they would have.

Hopefully, they will get the ride up and running soon. I was out at the park last week, and it looks like construction is winding down, since there is now Sod under the ride, the queue line is almost done, the station looks to be complete with a roof, and the sign is above the enterance walkway. Most of the construction fence is now gone as well. As of last week, no sign of the trains on the track though.

--Brian
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Brian A. Plencner
E-Mail: saurses@home.com

That sucks. I agree with the state because if a person saw that and wanted to go on the ride, but when the person got there, it wasn't open. I would be p****ed off.

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Double V2 = SFMW & SFGAm

SF uses pics of other coasters all the time. in 99 when Raging Bull debuted at SFGAm, the park used a pic of Iron Wolf on the park map. its all blured, but you can see the old restraints and even the logo! though I'm the only one of my friends who still has it so they dont' believe me.

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it's a mexican pirate!~Track 15 Blink 182 Take Off Your Pants and Jacket

Wow, is that all Illinois has to worry about? Amusment park commercials. ;)

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Cameron Willis
Dr. Doolittle 2: "So young, so angry. Damn that rap music!"

SFGAm can go to jail for false advertising, this isn't funny people.

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Double V2 = SFMW & SFGAm

I feel that SF should not have advertised either V2 Or Deja Vu before either coaster opened. In their ads for opening day 2001 both coasters were shown and mention even though none were running.I saw a commercial showing the animation for Deja Vu as of last night at around 11 pm. I do feel it's unfair to use these images in the T.V. ads but, The name Deja Vu is neither spoken nor appears in print during the commercial. Technically, a charge of false advertising could only withstand if Deja Vu does not open before the end of the 2001 season. This is not fair but from a legal standpoint, acceptable. What really angers me is the statement in this article saying that no complaints have been made. I and at least 15 of my friends have complained numerous times this season about the delay in construction. I find it hard to believe that we are the only ones. I really don't understand the delay either. Raging Bull was ready by opening day for it's debut as was Viper. Both, in my opinion, far more complex rides. Perhaps SF should limit it's new projects to one park at a time. SFMM residents will get to ride their new coasters year round where as some of us others who live near seasonal parks have a limited time per year to enjoy the parks.

*** This post was edited by Jymbo on 6/28/2001. ***

Every day I see a commercial for Six Flags and it says it has two new extreme coasters, it shows deja vu and it also shows a quick clip of the deja vu animation (shown so fast I thought it was actual video of deja vu running) so it is VERY misleading.... Just yesterday I saw the same commercial, it is pretty long for a commercial, I think it is on channel 2 a lot, but it is confusing to my friends cuz they were all planning a trip to six flags to ride the new coasterS and I had to break the news to them that only one was open... it's very inconvenient for those who dont follow up on coasters and only rely on the media, which is currently telling them there are 2 new coasters operating, especially when a lot of people only visit a certain park once a summer and not every week

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"SFGAm can go to jail for false advertising, this isn't funny people."

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No, what's funny is Illinois building iron bars around the park and making it wear a bright orange jumper.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com