In Canada we have a grocery chain called Superstore that posts many products as "Always $x.xx" but the prices have continually been increased over the years. I wouldn't call it a lie but it sure feels dirty and unethical. They used to use the president of the family corporation in all their ads too, but don't anymore and that's probably because he knows they're in the wrong on this and many other things (like the price fixing scandals).

Ah, my favorite exception to fraud: Puffery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffery

If everyone knows it's a lie... well then I guess it's not a lie anymore, is it?

I kind of understand why the law takes this position. If you really think about it's hard to imagine how to truly fix this. But it still feels pretty dirty.