Estee Lauder has raised the bar on its purchase “giveaway” from $1.00 below the price of not-so-cheap-to-begin-with moisturizer to $1.00 above. Which means you either leave without the extras or spend money on something you don’t want. Or option 3: change brands. There’s a lot of competition out there.

Let’s be clear: Although cosmetics companies put a dollar value on their giveaways, it doesn’t cost them that much. The aim of the promotions is to generate sales and customer loyalty.

So why would a company risk alienating customers, especially during a recession?