I think from a marketing point of view, we have been profiled, cataloged, grouped, characterized, labeled, and predicted. Analysts know our next move. If, while in a store, I have a sudden urge to urinate and make my way to the men’s rest room, as the other day, a man was probably near by, and put a check by “going to rr at 3:15” and said to himself, “Just as we predicted! Are we good or what?”
On the 16th of July Anna and I dropped by Home Depot to buy a Ryobi weed eater I had my eye on for a while now. We had a $10 coupon. At the checkout we discovered the coupon did not start until the following day so we left without purchasing the weed eater.
The next day we went and reclaimed the Ryobi weed eater. While there a young man approached us and asked us if we ever considered having our kitchen cabinets replaced. “Why, yes, as a matter of fact, we have.” I am sure he already knew that. He lined up for a representative to come to our house and show us the options we had.
We walked around a corner and a young lady appeared from no-where and asked if we ever considered a Home Depot credit card. Nope… don’t need another credit card we said. She said something to the effect that if we signed up for a credit card we would get $30 off that weedeater. We more or less said, “$30?” And they probably already knew our next question would be “And can we also use our $10 coupon?”
She lady said, “Of course!”
They reeled us in.
You need to read "Broken Window" by Jeffrey Deaver. You will know for damned sure they are tracking you.
ReplyDeleteThere is another one I read in the late 50s or early 60s, The Hidden Persuaders - I forgot who it is buy, the name Vance Packard rings a bell.
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