A new marketing low?

[Minimalist]

Creating problems and then offering the solution

What about the ones who create the problem and then make it worse?

[Tempus]

Oh my. Yeah. I don't visit take out joints either.

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http://atheistforums.org/thread-13372.html Watching advertisements irritates me. They're disgusting. Creating problems and then offering the solution -- at a price. Emotionally blackmailing and psychologically manipulative. Everything must be packaged and branded, marketed and capitalised on! My personal solution is not to watch TV, read magazines, or listen to the radio.

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Selling solutions to problems of one's own manufacture is therwise known as a racket.

Racket is one way to generate profits without enriching society. Countries that protect racketeering as legitimate business model is doomed to terminal economic decline.

Good point. I didn't mean to say that companies selling vitamin supplements (as an example) are responsible for vitamin deficiencies, although my broad and imprecise language might indicate something like that. I suppose the point I was making is that there's plenty of shit out there being sold that simply isn't needed but is advertised as though we do.

[Darth]

It's like the free hats they hand out on opening day. Just be glad you got a free hat, neh?

It ain't free. It was bought with my insurance premium without my consent. And I didn't have the choices I would have if I went to the store and bought it.

If they didn't advertise, they wouldn't get as much new business, therefore they will spend a certain amount of money on promotions and advertisements and gimmicks. Has this changed? I'm going to guess that the company was doing that at the time you signed up?

Also, you are paying x amount of dollars, for y amount of service, that's the agreement. It's now their money, you have paid them for a service, its now your service. It's their money, they can do whatever they want with it. Once you have paid a person or business for a product or service it's their money, not yours, your consent isn't required* for them to be able to spend their own money.

[Brian37]

Businesses don't do stuff like this purely out of the goodness of their heart. They do it to have their company name attached to good deeds, and what better way to do that than to pur your logo on a free handout. That being said, I don't see the big deal with this.

It is smarmy to me. If they were doing it truly out of goodness, they shirt would not matter. It smacks of PR, not so much that the kid would care, but taking a traumatic moment and "this comfort brought to you by Allstate".

I used to work at a radio station, we did the same thing. BUT we didn't hand out our crap. We simply did remotes and I dressed up in a bear costume, and we collected donated bears from the public and gave them to local police and fire. No logos on them.