The right smells, the right music, manipulating inventory levels, displaying certain colors: aided by tons of research on consumer psychology, stores now employ all sorts of wily techniques to wine and dine you before getting you in the backseat. (And yes, we meant for that sentence to go there.)
marketing
FTC Subpoenas 44 Food Companies That Target Kids
By 8.10.07
The FTC has issued subpoenas to 44 food and beverage companies that market to kids, including Burger King, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and Kraft. The companies are being called on to disclose how much they spend on their marketing campaigns to kids, as well as “specific information about their marketing practices,” by November 1st of this year.
Package Redesign Gone Wild
By 8.10.07
The NYT has an article today about the terrifying rate of package redesign, a phenomenon the industry blames on, what else—the internet. Oh, and Tivo.
Cell Phones For Kindergartners
By 8.7.07
Cellphone makers want their wares to become regular fixtures on back to school shopping lists. Several companies are making brightly colored cellphones that are designed to fit snugly in a small child’s hand; the phones are paired with special plans designed to convince parents that handing their five-year-old a cellphone is a responsible decision:
Disney Exits Winemaking Buisness Before Actually Entering It
By 8.1.07
Plans to market a French Chardonnay under the brand name “Ratatouille,” have been shelved due to a “trickle of inquiries and complaints,” according to Disney spokesperson, Gary Foster.
McDonald's Launches Viral Invite To "BurgerCon"
By 7.21.07
Are you ever sitting around, internetting with your fellow internetters, when all of a sudden you wish you had a corporate-approved “viral” way to challenge said “fellow internetters” to a competitive eating contest?
Honda Dealer Sends Out Scratch-Off Tickets Where Everyone Is a Winner
By 7.20.07
Here’s a typo you don’t see every day. A Honda dealer contracted the services of a direct mail marketing and promotions agency. The agency was supposed to send out 50,000 scratch-off tickets, one of which was the grand prize winner—entitling the customer to a cash prize of $1,000.
Actually, We Don't Have Any Advertisers Much In The Way Of Advertisers
By 7.19.07
An ad has never been bought on The Consumerist. Those banner ads you see flickering all around? They’re run across the entire Gawker network. Nobody, to date, however, has bought any Consumerist-specific ads as such. If someone wanted to, we’re sure the Gawker ad team would welcome them with open arms.
Budget: Cash This Check And You'll Be Enrolled In A Service You Don't Want
By 7.10.07
Reader Larry writes in with a complaint about a commonly used “scam.” We call it a “scam” because we believe it’s misleading and designed to take advantage of people who do not read things carefully, but you judge for yourself. Here’s how it works:
2.3 Million Customer Records Stolen, Sold To Direct Marketers
By 7.3.07
Fidelity National Information Services, a financial processing company, announced today that one of its employees had stolen 2.3 million customer records containing credit card, bank account and other personal information, and sold that information to an unidentified “data broker” who then sold the information to various direct marketing companies.
A Closer Look At Home Depot's "Eco Options" Program
By 6.25.07
Is Home Depot’s much-advertised PR darling “Eco Options” program an example of green washing or a genuine good? The NYT attempts to find out by interviewing Ron Javis, Home Depot’s senior vice president overseeing the Eco Options program.
Reebok Says It's Ok To Be Slow
By 6.22.07
Nike said Just Do It. Gatorade commercials show athletes caught in slow-mo, sweating and bleeding the sports drink. Reebok says, “Why hit the wall? It hurts. Run easy.” And “A 10 minute mile is just as far as a 6-minute mile. Run easy.” Sure, it’s the same distance, but it’s not the same workout. Of course, if it’s a difference between running easy and not running at all, by all means, run easy. Sure, people should have fun working out and not get all killer crazy about it. But, if you want to become fitter, you work yourself up to running faster and harder, not easier.
AirTran's Disingenuous "System-Wide Summer Sale"
By 6.19.07
Monday, AirTran announced a so-called “System-Wide Summer Sale.” FareCompare.com looked at the price history and found that instead, AirTran had raised prices, then lowered them, calling the delta a “sale.”
Meet Your Meat: Chipotle Distributes Photos Of Farms That Supply Their Restaurants
By 6.13.07
An angry reader wrote us yesterday asking if the photos he’s been finding in his bag along with his Chipotle veggie burrito were legit. Matt wrote:
Last time I got the pigs out on the plains of super green grass (Grass won’t last more than a day under pigs). Today was a lone adult chicken in an otherwise empty commercial coop, perfectly clean bird, on a perfectly clean floor. I know for fact chickens don’t get moved from the time they are chicks, until the vacuum machine comes to box them for transport to the slaughter house. So where is all the bird shit and carcasses that succumbed to walking on the ammonia soaked floor?
The Science of Disgust
By 5.31.07
Would you be less likely to eat a cookie that had touched a package of kitty litter while in a shopping cart? A clean, sealed package? Some scientists say you would, and that information is of use to marketers. From Time:
Any food that touched something perceived to be disgusting became immediately less desirable itself, though all of the products were in their original wrapping. The appeal of the food fell even if the two products were merely close together; an inch seemed to be the critical distance. “It makes no sense if you think about it,” says Fitzsimons. More irrationally still, the subjects were less comfortable with a transparent package than an opaque one, as if it somehow had greater power to leak contamination. Whatever the severity of the taint, the result was predictable.
The Font Of The 20th Century
By 5.27.07
The miscellany gods at Slate have compiled a slideshow describing how companies such as American Airlines, Sears, Target, ConEd, Verizon, and the New York Subway system use the font Helvetica to convey a sense of “modern efficiency with a human face.”
Ultimately, Helvetica is a cipher–and this is the key to its success. It can be authoritative or ironic, sober or idealistic, corporate or cozy. It’s the tofu of typefaces: bland in itself but ready to absorb whatever flavors you add to it. It’s clean, legible, and well-designed, but its real power lies in its uncanny mutability.
Though we seldom think of many of the companies using Helvetica as efficient, it’s nice to know what they were striving for when they chose their font. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER
If Banks Came To Life, 42% Of Our Readers Say Bank Of America Would Be A Deadbeat Dad
By 5.24.07
3052 people voted and it’s clear. If banks came to life as people, 42% of Consumerist readers vote Bank of America would most likely be a deadbeat dad. Props to commenter nerodiavolo, whose comment helped prompt a survey so incisive, Gallup rose from the dead and baked us a cake last night.
