I recently saw a sign on the back of a bus that included  “available exclusively at no other department stores”.

It left me wondering was it exclusive to the advertiser or not? It  was the only department store stocking the product but it could well be available at other places which means it wasn’t exclusive at all!

Let’s look at what exclusive really means…

exclusive: entirely, not shared or including others
The reporter had an exclusive story as the witness spoke only to her.

Exclusive is an absolute term so it can’t be qualified – that is, something is exclusive or it isn’t, there is no middle option. “I’ll give you and the other TV stations an exclusive interview” and “the exclusive club is open to everyone” don’t make sense.