I’m a big fan of NPR’s “This American Life”, and I often listen to their weekly podcast on my walk to and from work. Recently, they rebroadcast a show that originally aired in March 2009, called “Scenes From A Recession”. Each of the three segments was about how the current economic downturn is affecting everyday people.
Archive for the ‘Consumerism’ Category
Jan
23
2009
Hitting Below the Belt
Yesterday, we received a flyer in the mail from a company that manages vacation rentals. Here’s what the front of the flyer looks like (click the photo for a close-up look):
Tug at the heartstrings much?
(You’ll notice that I have not included the name of the company in the above scan…fat chance, you bastards!) Apparently, in this challenging economic environment, it’s important to remember that emotional blackmail is fair play when encouraging your customers to buy, buy, buy.
Dec
12
2008
Dear Citibank
I know you’re really concerned about identity theft. After all, it must cost you millions of dollars every year! So I’m not really surprised that you put the following on the back of the envelope containing my latest statement:
This is how you prevent ID theft?
The problem is that, well, the text you’ve put on the back of the envelope kinda broadcasts the fact that it contains sensitive personal information. Maybe next month you might consider writing something less likely to catch the eye of evildoers? Something like “IDENTITY THIEVES–INQUIRE WITHIN”?