I half watched the first 30 minutes of Extreme Couponing last night while I was working and I didn’t hear any huge blunders. No one got into a fight in the store or photocopied coupons. I thought perhaps it was an uneventful evening. I thought wrong.
Sigh.
It’s not like we haven’t told TLC this stuff is going on. You would have to live under a rock to not have noticed your network being harassed by e-mails. To quote from an article in the Chicago Tribune “Matt Sharp, executive producer of TLC’s Extreme Couponing, said in an email that the show, which begins its third season in May, does not plan any changes despite the allegations. “Extreme Couponing continues to document real people and their extreme couponing methods. It’s up to each of the couponers to follow store policy and coupon rules,” Sharp wrote.”
Let’s look at some of the fradulent coupons used last night:
$5/1 Lysol Healthy Touch coupon (I remember these from the paper) but it was used on Lysol wipes last night
$1/1 Kleenex Cool Touch coupon used on regular Kleenex
A $6.50/1 cereal coupon? (yeah cause those exist)
$7/1 Hefty Product Coupon (on the CIC fraudulent coupon list)
FREE Quilted Northern Coupon (on the CIC fraudulent coupon list)
Free Doritos Bags Coupon
One of the people last night stated she had bought coupons online for the show and a few seconds on ebay shows that many of these counterfeit coupons are available for purchase!
And then there was the trip to K-Mart with just insane violations of their coupon policy. Kmart only doubles 5 coupons per day in real life. AND they gave overages on coupons (which they don’t do in real life).
Instead of getting all worked up about it I want you to see these as learning opportunities. If a coupon seems too good to be true check the Coupon Information Center- they have a list of all the well known counterfeit coupons.
Be sure to know the coupon policies for the stores you enjoy shopping and that way you will be sure to never unintentionally violate their rules!
I can’t imagine the ratings are going to be all that great for the third season of show about couponing that everyone knows is unrealistic. I haven’t talked to anyone who has watched more than one small portion of one show. I’m surprised it even came back for a third season. I’ll be shocked if there’s a fourth season.