Emotional blackmail as a marketing tool

katie_jane_2

i saw one on a sunday market selling water filter add on thingys with signs warning of chances of miscarriages and birth defects in babys whose mothers drink over chlorinated water ie buy this or your unborn baby is done for i was disgusted!!!!!!!ggggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrr im radged up just thinking about it!!!

newlywed

Storm wrote:

My personal hated one at the moment though... Argos, with the dad 'reaching out for his son's Christmas wish'... it's pushing the 'got to buy loads for your kids so they'll love you' message!

I reckon you should take a plastic star into Argos and try and pay with that and see what they say? Might be false advertising if they don't swap it for toys surely??

pusscat

I object to people "working" as charity collectors on principle. Why should my donation to a charity be split between a paid chugger and the charity? I will make my own donations (and gift aid it so the charity can get the tax back) thankyou very much.

I always ask collectors if they are being paid for collecting, if they are then I ask for the charity details so I can check out their web site and donate direct.

I don't put money into tins as the charity cannot gift aid it

I try to avoid all forms of advertising as I can't be bothered with it. I totally refuse to listen to cold callers, just say no thanks and put the phone down (unless I am having a really boring day when I may bait them for a bit of fun!)

I am an ad agency's nightmare, I can't ever remember any of the jingles or logos they pay so much to design :-)

Puss

GreyPilgrim

katie_jane wrote:

i saw one on a sunday market selling water filter add on thingys with signs warning of chances of miscarriages and birth defects in babys whose mothers drink over chlorinated water ie buy this or your unborn baby is done for i was disgusted!!!!!!!ggggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrr im radged up just thinking about it!!!

Thats simply outrageous.

GreyPilgrim

Storm wrote:

My personal hated one at the moment though... Argos, with the dad 'reaching out for his son's Christmas wish'... it's pushing the 'got to buy loads for your kids so they'll love you' message!

I'd forgot about that one. Yeah, that's a good example. It reminds me of another one for Disneyworld (I think...). Something like "a childhood lasts approximately xxx number of days. Make sure you make some of them special by bringing your child to Disneyworld"

And wasn't there a macdonalds advert where kids parents are divorced, and the kid dupes them into meeting in a macdonalds restaurant. Their eyes meet over a chicken burger and they fall back in love or some rubbish like that? Message given out to impressionable kids = "macdonalds can help get your parents back together"!:rotfl:

GreyPilgrim

The ultimate hypocrite, I do feel some sympathy for charities though...I know the NSPCC ads are shocking...but maybe in some cases we need to be spurred into action...that stuff does go on and maybe everything should be done to help kids in those situations.

Maybe it could spur us into demanding from 'the grown ups' that agencies devoted to alleviating child abuse and cruelty should not rely on charitable donations. But I guess thats a discussion for another forum.

Swan_2

one thing that particularly annoys me are the charities who give you all the emotional speil to get you to feel guilty & part with your cash, then tell you you'll get regular letters & updates about your 'protégé's' progress :rolleyes:

I'd never give money to them, I'd rather they spent it doing some more good than spent it on, no doubt mass-produced, but still unecessarily pricey, photos, writing paper & postage

nevadagirl

A couple of years ago a staff member from a telephone service provider rang me. When I explained I wasn't interested, they said 'but my shift finishes in ten minutes and if I don't sign anyone up today, I'll lose my job'.

I didn't sign up and I did write to the CEO and complain. Never got a response mind you, but it winds me up to think that some more vulnerable person than me would agree quite readily.

Kevicho

I love chuggers (and cold callers), they give me someone to sell my products too

GreyPilgrim

Maybe we can turn this into a "most novel way to get rid of cold callers" thread?

I vote for asking them to wait for a moment, going back indoors, stripping naked, coming back to the door and then letting them try to sell me whatever it is they're flogging whilst I rub myself provocatively against the doorframe.

If they get through their spiel without freaking out / running away, I'll consider buying it.