In the last eight months or so we've seen three major advertising promotions go south; and while I'm glad I don't have to spend good money and creativity on campaigns designed to get people to buy stuff they really don't need, I think there are two very important, very valuable lessons to be learned.
Last November is was Dr. Pepper, a company which pledged to give out free drinks if Guns N Roses finished its Chinese Democracy album by a certain date. They finished it, and Dr. Pepper almost finished themselves by trying to provide coupons online--customers crashed their servers all day long and became irate when they couldn't get their free Drs. Pepper. Back in February Denny's decided to give away free Grand Slam breakfasts (for reasons about which I was never entirely clear), resulting in around-the-block lines at thousands of restaurants--lines in which some patrons were content to wait in the rain for hours while others screamed like the impatient maniacs they are. Finally, KFC decided to introduce its new grilled chicken with Internet coupons and an "Oprah" tie-in; of course, the "valid" coupons were subject to mass photocopying and the flooded chain stores had to shut the entire promotion down by midday. (Writer's note: For what it's worth, I stopped eating at Denny's years ago, I eat at KFC occasionally, and I drink enough Dr. Pepper to keep them in business.)
There are those who read these stories, shake their heads, and say, "Well, you get what you pay for." As I re-read my blog post from earlier this week, it occurred to me that I left one other suggestion off the list: do away completely with all giveaways, coupons, and free deals. Quite frankly, it's all putting us in the wrong frame of mind. See, I read these giveaway disasters and say, "Well, pay for what you get."
I've never been a big fan of giveaways and coupons, and I genuinely believe that people should be adequately compensated for goods and services; at a very basic level, it's what keeps the economy going. I'm not even a big fan of receiving gifts on birthdays or at Christmastime, mostly because it's the same as getting something for nothing (I often tell people with regard to my birthday: "It happened a long time ago, and I didn't really do much but show up and complain a lot, so why shower me with gifts?"*). I've never had a problem with paying for the things that I get, or with turning away a "deal" that isn't fair.
The first lesson we learn from these failed promotions is that they have their drawbacks. In these cases, specifically, you've got bad publicity and some people walking away upset with these businesses. Clearly, backfires can occur.
The second and more important lesson is that people have come to believe that they deserve something for free; moreover, this whole "Do less, get more" mentality becomes more ingrained with each additional promotion or giveaway. Just look at how angry people get when the promotion ends, or dies, or takes too long, and you can see just how addicted they've become to getting something for nothing. The real problem, though, is how that mentality has spread to areas in which it has no place: welfare, sub-prime mortgages, and zero-down car leases to name a few. The whole system has consequently been thrown into imbalance, and the economic crisis now sitting before us is the result. WE'VE MADE IT TOO EASY TO BUY PURCHASE AND OBTAIN THINGS. It used to be more difficult; it used to be that you had to save up to purchase something you wanted. If you couldn't afford it, you had to wait--and if you wanted it, you had to pay for it. That seems all gone now. (Take, as examples, my quest for a Kindle, or my outside patio, or my hardwood stairwell: I could buy these things right now and just slap them on plastic--but I'm better off if I work hard, save up, and spend wisely, just like my mommy taught me.)
The imbalance is the issue here. If a couple of people get more for doing less, the scales don't change much; but if many people get something for nothing, the system begins to crash. "Every man for himself" doesn't do much for society as a whole, and I think there's more than one economic theorist that will back me up on this.
We are, after all, in this together, right?
* I was once told--though I've never found any evidence to back it up--that the Japanese do the birthday thing in reverse: the person celebrating the birthday gives gifts to close friends. Again, I've never been able to verify it, but it made a lot more sense to me. (I have found a great deal of information on Japanese gift-giving, the traditions involved, etc. It's fascinating stuff.)
Observations, rants, and plausible
deniability from a person who refuses
to be a prisoner of his own world.
deniability from a person who refuses
to be a prisoner of his own world.
The Village
I AM WRITING!
My Screenplay -- Draft Three
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On my Kindle 2
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iTunes Radio
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