“Would you like to apply up for a credit card? Just for applying you get your choice of any Webkinz on that wall over there.”
“No, thanks.”
“Would you like to donate $1 to juvenile diabetes?”
“Um, no.”
“We’re having a special promotion today. If you donate to fight prostate cancer, you get a free bottle of water.”
“I’ll pass.”
The grocery checker was holding my receipt ransom until she worked her way through this litany of questions that she no doubt had repeated dozens of times during her shift. If it hadn’t been for the sour look on my face, she may have continued through an entire United Way of charitable organizations.
Seriously, all I want to do is pay for my 15-items-or-less groceries and get out of this store. It’s blazing hot outside and I want to get home and pull on my baggy shorts and Homer Simpson T-shirt.
I think it’s noble and grand that national retailers support charitable causes, but can they not do it on the backs of their already-squeezed patrons? If the fat cats in Corporate think it’s vital to raise funds for these causes, why don’t they write a check off of the bottom line?
Next time I’m bombarded by these supermarket appeals, I think I’ll counter with one of my own. “My church is having this fundraiser, see, and for every $10 you donate, your name goes in the hat for a chance to win fabulous prizes. How many can I put you down for?”
-- Kevin
This is called interruption marketing. It's the equivalent of AT&T, or you name it calling a retail operation during business hours and asking for business. Yes, that happened yesterday and I let them know in no-uncertain terms how I felt.
This kind of marketing causes me to NOT want to do business with these places.
Posted by: trey | July 10, 2008 at 12:48 PM
Amen, brother! Seriously, what marketing genius decided that slowing down the line to make all the pitches was a good idea? Geez.
Posted by: SM | July 11, 2008 at 07:44 AM