The Hooks that Surround Us

While I was picking up a few groceries I noticed two details that disturbed me.

The store I was shopping at had a table strategically placed in the center of the store. There was one employee at the table. The table was lined with candy bars. Three quarters of the candy bars had been distributed from the design of the remaining candy bars. There were forms at the table. Sign up for a store card and receive a free candy bar.

The combination is sheer genius. Ideas like this make marketing careers. Combine the free candy bar with filling out the form creates disconnect. Instead of ordering a card, you’re taking a few seconds to get free stuff. Everyone loves free stuff. Assuming they give out one hundred candy bars, let’s say only one person uses the credit card and everyone else cuts it up. The average cost of the candy bars had to be less than a dollar, so that one person just paid for the ‘free stuff’. My personal, random, totally unfounded guess is that roughly ten percent of the people who sign up for the card will use it. Even if they only spend twenty dollars each, that’s an incredible return.  Plus the candy bars were a one time promotion, the cards are in their pockets for a long time.

The second tactic that disturbed me was while I was walking by a television in the gym. There was a special cleaning product being advertised. I couldn’t tell you what it was but one line stuck in my head and upset me. “Remember, if you’re using a regular mop, even if it looks clean its not.” What kind of garbage is this? You expect people to believe the word of some random commercial? I would never buy a product that tried to force feed me that. Probably because ‘even though I hear the commercial as I walk by the sound isn’t there so I didn’t hear it.”

Am I saying marketing is bad? No. Am I saying stores are bad for running promotions? Absolutely not. What I am saying is that parents would be setting their children up for success by  educating their children about marketing from an early age because they are literally spoon fed commercialism. These tactics do not make companies good or bad.