Companies are marketing the shit out of COVID-19.

"404 - User No Longer Available" (toni-cipriani)
03/14/2020 at 23:07 • Filed to: covid-19

... just today, I got e-mails from:

Banks (including one whom I don’t have accounts with anymore)

Telcos (my phone company)

LCBO

Staples

Toys’rus

...even the freakin’ airsoft place I bought some green gas from.

Saying how they are cleaning the stores, and oh BTW, new products and “WE OFFER FREE SHIPPING!!!!”

What a time we live in...

DISCUSSION (20)

Nibby > 404 - User No Longer Available
03/14/2020 at 23:10

any company or person who tries to make a quick buck off of a medical crisis should be disgusted

AestheticsInMotion > 404 - User No Longer Available
03/14/2020 at 23:14

That’s no worse than the endless stream we get from the news. If anything I'd say it's more reasonable.

Hell, I told the guy who bought my window washing company to start advertising home sanatation ASAP. He could make more in the next month than during the holiday rush, just by spraying down houses and cleaning doorknobs.

AestheticsInMotion > Nibby
03/14/2020 at 23:16

For better or worse, that’s America .

WilliamsSW > 404 - User No Longer Available
03/14/2020 at 23:26

They’re doing it because they CARE* !

* about profits

facw > 404 - User No Longer Available
03/14/2020 at 23:32

My company has one ready to go, but as of Friday they hadn’t sent it out yet. Frankly I think getting customers to feel safe coming to the stores may be yesterday’s problem, tomorrow’s problem is going to be government ordering our stores to close (probably not literally tomorrow, but I think it could be coming sooner than people would expect) .

Nibby > AestheticsInMotion
03/14/2020 at 23:35

this sickens me

PS9 > Nibby
03/14/2020 at 23:44

“ tries to make a quick buck off of a medical crisis”

This is a complete description of the capitalist healthcare system in the United States.

AestheticsInMotion > Nibby
03/14/2020 at 23:46

If I was a company faced with the world’s current response to CV, I’d be doing absolutely everything I could to push sales. God only knows if they’ll have the opportunity to do so in a month. The thought of businesses being shutdown, and the lowest income members of society SOL when their wages dissappear... That disgusts me much more than people being opportunitistic.

Shoop > 404 - User No Longer Available
03/14/2020 at 23:47

Lol a place I buy shirts from is selling a "quarantine and chill" and a "coronavirus? We eat ass here" shirts

Bryan doesn't drive a 1M > Nibby
03/14/2020 at 23:50

Sickens you, eh? It's profit time!

smobgirl > facw
03/15/2020 at 00:20

We (my employer) were about to push new marketing focusing on our willingness and ability to travel anywhere at short notice. That’s definitely on hold for now. I mean, we’re still functioning like that but it’s a little tone deaf to emphasize (and it’ll only work until I get sick, which I am trying not to do)

fintail > Nibby
03/15/2020 at 00:46

Check ebay sold listings for toilet paper. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry.

ranwhenparked > 404 - User No Longer Available
03/15/2020 at 02:26

So far, I’ve received emails from GEICO, Chevrolet, my dentist’s office, the Boy Scouts, American Express, my credit union, and my university alumni association. I don’t see that any of them are trying to sell me a new product, just reassuring me that they are taking various unspecified measures to either keep me safe somehow , or maintain their operations should I need to contact them for some undetermined reason.

I think its a bandwagon thing. Nobody wants to be the only company or organization not sending out a COVID-19 email to their contact list, then they might stand out as the only one that “doesn’t care”, so everyone needs to say something so everyone knows they recognize that its serious. Same reason why some people might get all angry at a family member who doesn’t cry in public when a loved one dies - it isn’t enough to actually care, you also have to make sure other people can see that you care.

for Michigan > 404 - User No Longer Available
03/15/2020 at 07:35

Same. Everyone is asking all of us to “download the app”, “give us your email”, “follow us on xyz”, etc. all with the alleged purpose of keeping us all in the loop about COVID-19. But I’m in the middle of a digital marketing course and I’ve been studying marketing on my own for the last few months and they’re all such transparent grabs for leads it’s a little unsettling.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > AestheticsInMotion
03/15/2020 at 08:42

I was impressed when my employer decided to just keep paying the hourly workers. It isn’t exactly a lot of money relative to the cost of everyone else or even the cost of maintaining idle real estate, avoids having to hire more later, and (most importantly from a human perspective) gives the workers some security that they need through this.

Humorously, without having to hunt down an empty phone room or conference room from a disease-spreading open office, most of us are far more productive working from home. Forcing it on everyone is hard for the older people that believe things can only be done in person , but I’ve known that it was better for years, particularly with modern collaboration tools.

Nibby > fintail
03/15/2020 at 08:48

oh god oh no

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > 404 - User No Longer Available
03/15/2020 at 08:55

I saw a post earlier that summed it up well by saying that they have heard from literally every company they have ever given their email address to.

Most annoy me, some are mildly comforting, and a few have made me sad (particularly by small businesses that have been impacted ). Mind you, I live in the region of the US that is being hit the hardest by it so far. The saddest was my barber that decided to close his shop until the end of the month due to cancellations and no-shows. He then sent me a personal message with his number in case I needed to get in touch with him.

404 - User No Longer Available > fintail
03/15/2020 at 10:12

Kinja'd!!!

Stef Schrader > PS9
03/15/2020 at 16:45

Yup. :(

America: It’s cheaper if you die!

Long_Voyager94 > Nibby
03/16/2020 at 07:02

I’m more disgusted that people are actually dumb enough to buy.