When I was young, I half-considered going into advertising. It seemed like a fun and interesting occupation. To have the opportunity to create interesting, funny or eye-catching ad campaigns appealed greatly to my creative side. As I grew older, however, I began to recognize the negative underbelly of the beast. Advertising, which is but one component of an overall marketing strategy, often seeks to convince people -- the "consumer" -- to buy a lot of crap they don't really need and/or to spend more money than is necessary or prudent.
Marketing has become big business and a good deal of it is shadier than a giant oak tree on a hot summer day! Take, for example, an advertisement I received in the mail yesterday from a certain dish TV company. The circular announces in big bold letters that I can sign up for a large cable package of only $19.99/month for an entire year! In this day and age, that's a darn good price.
But there's a catch and it's one that few consumers will notice. In order to get this great deal, you have to agree to contract with them for 24 months and the second year is at the regular "sky high" price. If you cancel early, you must pay back the subsidy given for the first year plus any outstanding months owed.
All this information is included in the fine print. This corporation, however, has made it very difficult literally to read the fine print provided!
For starters, the print size is microscopic. I used a magnifying glass and I still had trouble reading it. Of course, the print size isn't the only problem. The background for the fine print is reddish and -- get this -- the information is printed in only a slightly lighter shade of the same color. So, the words don't standout at all and seem to disappear into the background.
So, my guess is that thousands (or millions) of consumers will read this circular and jump at the chance for the low one year price. When the cost bumps up significantly at the beginning of year 2 of the plan, a lot of people will exclaim, "What in the heck is going on?" They will call customer service and be told that each of them willingly agreed to these terms and, if they plan to cancel, they must pay the balance in full.
Pretty damn slick, if you ask me. What's worse is that this kind of shysterism is legal! All sorts of businesses bury the details of contracts and products in the teeny fine print. Credit card companies are famous for it!!!
Marketing has become big business and a good deal of it is shadier than a giant oak tree on a hot summer day! Take, for example, an advertisement I received in the mail yesterday from a certain dish TV company. The circular announces in big bold letters that I can sign up for a large cable package of only $19.99/month for an entire year! In this day and age, that's a darn good price.
But there's a catch and it's one that few consumers will notice. In order to get this great deal, you have to agree to contract with them for 24 months and the second year is at the regular "sky high" price. If you cancel early, you must pay back the subsidy given for the first year plus any outstanding months owed.
All this information is included in the fine print. This corporation, however, has made it very difficult literally to read the fine print provided!
For starters, the print size is microscopic. I used a magnifying glass and I still had trouble reading it. Of course, the print size isn't the only problem. The background for the fine print is reddish and -- get this -- the information is printed in only a slightly lighter shade of the same color. So, the words don't standout at all and seem to disappear into the background.
So, my guess is that thousands (or millions) of consumers will read this circular and jump at the chance for the low one year price. When the cost bumps up significantly at the beginning of year 2 of the plan, a lot of people will exclaim, "What in the heck is going on?" They will call customer service and be told that each of them willingly agreed to these terms and, if they plan to cancel, they must pay the balance in full.
Pretty damn slick, if you ask me. What's worse is that this kind of shysterism is legal! All sorts of businesses bury the details of contracts and products in the teeny fine print. Credit card companies are famous for it!!!
at one point in time i took a couple of sales jobs. there is no way that i will do sales or marketing ever again (unless my very life depends on it!) first, i was horrifically bad at it. unlike other salespeople, i took "no" for an answer. if someone said "no thanks" or "i don't think so" i said "ok have a nice day!" that strategy didn't work well, as you might imagine, as the point of sales is pretty much to hassle people until they give up and relent.
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