Emotional blackmail as a marketing tool

Bargain_Rzl

Ohhhh that Argos advert - it just makes me laugh that it tries to convince you that Argos is the answer to every child's dreams! Yes, I do remember being 10 and going through the Argos catalogue so I knew what to ask Santa for, but looking back at it from the grand old age of 28, it just seems that Argos is a brand that's devoid of all romance and cosiness and surely there are dreams more worthy of coming true (e.g. world peace!) than the latest thing out of the Argos catalogue... Sorry, I know that sounds very mawkish and sentimental by my standards, but you know what I mean!

Also when I see the father leaping up onto the roof, all it does is put me in mind of that responsible drinking advert where the bloke gets drunk and thinks he's a superhero and ends up falling from the scaffolding (which incidentally I think is a great ad, something very similar happened to one of my old schoolfriends while under the influence and sadly he did not live to tell the tale).

climbgirl

KittyKate wrote:

The cynical side of me always wonders how much the ads cost to make - actors, sets, camera/sound people, then all the airtime which costs hundreds of pounds a second during terrestrial primetime. How many people pay £2 a month to save 'little Timmy' and are just bankrolling this blackmail machine?

Probably none or very little. A lot of charities who advertise on tv are given public service slots where it's free or heavily discounted. Not all qualify for this but a lot do.

I think people are a bit unrealistic about all their donated money going to the actual source of the problem. Charities have expenses too, they need headquarters, phone centres if it's something like childline, they need staff (not all can be voluntary) and they're usually paid a hell of a lot less than they would be if they worked in the private sector doing the same job. So they are giving up something by working there.

So yeah, a percentage of the money donated will cover that, by very neccessity.

Some people want to hear what their money is being used for and nag if regular letters aren't sent out! Others don't want their money used for that so they opt out of that (and if you ask, most will stop sending you updates.) Everyone's different, you can't please all of the people all of the time.

mrcow

Sky are terrible for this too.

You ring them to cancel and they give you "How are the children going to cope without the kids channels?".

Errr....I think they'll survive thanks! :rolleyes:

loneranger

Love the Argos ad, I write my own endings:
He reached for a star, fell off the roof and broke his neck.
He took it to Argos and they were out of stock (which happened with 4 out of the 5 things I last went in for).
My most hated ad is the Jewellery one where the guys can't tell their women how they feel about them so they buy them some jewellery instead and the women all adore them for it....aaaaarrrrrggghhh! I would chuck it back at him and tell him to give it to some shallow bimbo who fell for that kind of trash.

Sassers

Shall I start a new thread about getting rid of unwanted cold callers and include the ex-boyfriend one to start? Might be worth a laugh?

consultant31

I have a DD for £2 a month to Cancer Research, and have for about 3 years now. I don't miss that amount, and feel I'm doing a bit to help.

However, I was stopped in the street by the Red Cross one day, who convinced me to set up a DD for them too. They asked for £10 a month and when I said it was too much, they suggested £5 a month. In the end I settled on £3 to make my total charity commitment up to £5 per month.

Within a matter of weeks I got a phone call one Sunday (yes, Sunday) with a guy asking me if I'd heard about the Tsunami (well no, I live in a hole in the ground!!). He wittered on about how dreadful it was, which it certainly was, but then he capped it off by asking if I would be prepared to 'up' my DD for the Red Cross in order to help those most affected by the disaster.

I was absolutely disgusted, and shortly afterwards I stopped the DD altogether.

The Red Cross does stirling work all over the world, I think most people would agree, but hounding people like that does them no favours. In future, apart from the Cancer one I would never set up another DD for charity, I'd much rather give in the street, where you remain anonymous.

System

I got caught by some pleb on the door and im usually "no" before they even open their gob, followed by NO, NO and NO.

However i did get taken in by one. I rang up next day and cancelled. I too am of the opinion that its up to me whom I wish to give to, when and how.

immoral_angeluk

mrcow wrote:

Sky are terrible for this too.

You ring them to cancel and they give you "How are the children going to cope without the kids channels?".

Errr....I think they'll survive thanks! :rolleyes:

Cbbc and Cbeebies are free on freeview.

immoral_angeluk

I had a bit of post through the door which made me so angry. I didn't even open the envelope because on the front there was no address just a grainy black and white picture of some indian kid with a cleft lip and tears in his eyes.. below it were the words 'Could you look him in the face.... and still not do anything?'. So now I'm heartless and don't care because I don't give them £5, £10 whatever a month? :mad:

immoral_angeluk

I had a bit of post through the door which made me so angry. I didn't even open the envelope because on the front there was no address just a grainy black and white picture of some indian kid with a cleft lip and tears in his eyes.. below it were the words 'Could you look him in the face.... and still not do anything?'. So now I'm heartless and don't care because I don't give them £5, £10 whatever a month? :mad: