Reader Sean got an odd notice from AT&T. It had “Receipt Enclosed” written on the outside of the envelope. He thought that was strange as he hadn’t used AT&T for a few years. Recently someone had tried to charge some unauthorized items on his credit card so he was worried that someone had bought AT&T service using his info. See, that’s how they getcha! By preying on that nagging doubt that maybe, just maybe, the letter is for real. [More]
If You Get This Green Postcard, Don't Call The Number
By June 14, 2011
Reader Michael reports he got a funny little green postcard in the mail telling him he had a package waiting for him. It said that he should call this toll-free number to schedule a pickup. Suspicious, he Googled around and it turns out that if you call the number they try to pitch you on vacation rentals. The “package” is simply a packet of brochures pimping their services [More]
BK Attacks Japan With Mini Spam Burgers For Women
By June 13, 2011
Swinging the pendulum away from their “Meat Monsters” offering, Burger King is dropping slider-style BK Bites on Japan in a variety of meat patties. Besides the usual beef, you can get a chicken patty or a Spam patty. That’s right, delicious Spam. And it’s for the ladies. “What Women Want, Women Get,” is the tagline for the Spam and BLT mini combo, which the chain describes as “lighter” and “suitable for women.” I can only hope something is getting lost in translation, but methinks it’s not really. [More]
Stuff Bought Through Spam Actually Gets Delivered
By June 8, 2011
While most of us don’t trust spam, if you order something advertised through it, be it pills, knockoff Rolex watches, or software, it will probably end up at your door. That’s one of the many surprising conclusions uncovered by researchers tracking exactly how spam works (PDF) from alpha to omega in the transaction process. [More]
It Takes 12.5 Million Spams To Sell $100 Of Viagra
By May 26, 2011
Considering how insistent and persistent the emails are, you would think there was big bucks in pushing pills that increase the flow of blood to one’s penis for an extended period of time. That may be true, but only because the costs of spam advertising are so low, as revealed by this nugget in a New York Times article that reveals it takes 12.5 million spam emails just to sell $100 worth of Viagra. [More]
Marketers Reintroducing Vintage Package Designs
By May 25, 2011
Everything old is new again. To tap into your nostalgia and your wallet, brands are dusting off old package designs not seen since the 60′s and 70′s and putting them back on the shelves. [More]
How Snake Oil Dodged Basic Laws In 1907
By May 25, 2011
It’s funny how similar the labeling tactics used by hucksters of fake snake oil used after getting busted by new laws in 1907 are to some techniques used by food and product packagers today. [More]
Amex Settles Case Alleging They Advertised BOGO, But Charged Double
By May 23, 2011
How’s this for a bad deal? American Express Publishing Corp. had an offer for a “free” airline ticket when you bought a companion ticket and a subscription to Skyguide magazine. But a lawsuit brought by five Californian counties says that when consumers went to the website to buy their ticket, they were often charged double what the ticket would have cost them if they bought the ticket straight from the airline. Get it? [More]
Match.com Thinks You Have 7-Year Itch
By May 20, 2011
After years of happy marriage, Match.com has decided that one of our readers has probably had enough and emailed them a selection of potential mates. Our reader met the man they would eventually marry on Match.com in 2001 and both of them believed they deleted their profiles together in 2002. In 2005, they were married. But using sophisticated algorithms, Match.com has tried to hook our reader up again. Maybe there’s a built-in 7-Year Itch protocol that automatically detects when you’ve hit the 7-year mark and would potentially be interested in the dating site’s services again? [More]
San Francisco On Track To Ban Yellow Pages
By May 17, 2011
San Francisco, the city that likes to ban everything that makes this country great, like plastic bags and Happy Meals, is just one more round of voting to do away with another American staple. No longer will its citizens be able to depend on their annual free doorstop upgrade in the form of a Yellow Pages phone book plopped in front of their abode. If the bill, read it here (PDF) passes, the company will have to confirm that the residents actually want one first. That should only cut down their market share in the city by roughly… most people. [More]
Poking Holes In Malt-O-Meal's Environmentalist Grandstanding
By May 17, 2011
Malt-O-Meal’s Bag the Box site claims the discount breakfast cereal line is doing its part to inflict minimal damage on the environment because its product doesn’t use boxes like its competitors do. But because Malt-O-Meal didn’t recently shift from boxes to bags and is vague about resources used to create its packaging, GreenBiz argues it’s hard to discern whether or not the company is easier on the environment than boxed cereal manufacturers. [More]
Snake Oil In The Grocery Aisle
By May 16, 2011
One of the biggest trends in food marketing are so-called “functional foods.” These days it’s not enough that food imparts nutrition and makes you not hungry, it has to perform jumping jacks. Yogurt for your digestive system, milk for your brain, and crisped rice cereal for your immune system. Food packagers don’t outright say that they cure or prevent disease, they can get away with using words like “supports” and “promotes” to make their claims, as long as there’s a little bit of believable science to back it up. But are they really about health, or hype? NYT investigates. [More]
Sprint Takes Out Satirical Ad Against AT&T T-Mobile Deal
By May 11, 2011
Sprint really is not fond of the proposed AT&T and T-mobile merger. This week they ran an ad in some papers and on political websites that was a takeoff on T-mobile’s recent ads. They feature an older shaggy businessman with a cigar wearing a pink dress like the one sported by the gal in the T-mobile ads. The man looks very similar to the one T-mobile used to depict AT&T in their ads mocking their rival before the merger was proposed. [More]
Why Is Coors Light Advertising During This Children's Song?
By May 9, 2011
Reader Jonnie was looking for YouTube videos to help his son remember his multiplication tables. He found one for 8′s, but was taken aback by what he had to watch first before he could watch it. It was an ad for Coors Light beer. That is some pretty dumb media buying right there. [More]
What If You Actually Lived Inside IKEA?
By May 9, 2011
Christian went on a trip to IKEA with his buddies and began to imagine, as many have upon seeing the different “sets” around the store recreating rooms in a house fully furnished by IKEA furniture, what would it be like if you actually lived inside the IKEA store? Since he’s a really good photographer, he and his pals then staged a series of delightful photos bringing this concept to life. Very fun way of bringing IKEA’s marketing metaphor to its literal conclusion. It also reminds me of this short sitcom about a family that lives in IKEA that came out last year. [More]
Aveda's Weird Relationship With An Amazonian Tribe
By May 5, 2011
For 18 years, makeup company Aveda has tried to pursue a unique economic partnership with the Yawanawá Amazonian tribe. Aveda gave them startup money and the Yawanawá are supposed to grow and supply urukum, a spiky red fruit that Aveda pays them for and uses to color their wares. It’s a great story, and Aveda weaves it into its marketing messages to help sell its makeup as being “green,” “sustainable” and “conscious.” There’s just one problem. WSJ probed and found the Yawanawá aren’t very good at making it in large quantities — they delivered none 2008-2010 and only 64 kg this year — and the economic lifeline that was supposed to save their tribe and make it self-sufficient could actually be tearing it apart. [More]
Have 342 People Died From Storms Lately? Sears Can Help You Clean Up!
By May 2, 2011
Devastating storms have ripped across the country in the past few weeks, leaving at least 342 dead and entire blocks and houses demolished. As a home appliance retailer, what’s your first thought? That’s right, targeted upsell. Several of our readers have sent in this email they got from Sears which says “Affected by the storm? Sears can help you clean up,” and then displays the wet vacs, chainsaws and generators you can buy. The 10% off Sears water extraction service could come in handy, but the email struck some of our readers as being in poor taste. [More]
Government Proposes New Guidelines For Marketing Food To Kids
By April 28, 2011
Earlier today, an interagency working group consisting of folks from the Federal Trade Commission, Centers for Disease Control, Food and Drug Administration, and the Dept. of Agriculture, issued a set of “proposed voluntary principles” it hopes the food industry will ultimately adopt in its marketing to the youth of America. [More]
