I don’t know what it is about me, but whenever I see an ad, I instinctively look for the small print to find the ‘gotchas’. It may have to do with my cynical nature when it comes to advertising, or it may have to do with my dislike of most advertising. But it’s an almost obsessive drive I have to check out the fine print to see where the company is trying to pull the wool over my eyes.
For the few times in my life that I’ve been in a ‘sales pitch’ position I always felt a little dirty afterwards. I’ve never been really comfortable trying to persuade someone to buy/lease/use something without giving them the low-down. I’m much more comfortable discussing the positives AND negatives of an idea/product/item than actively avoiding the negatives aspect of said subject. Now I don’t have a problem selling anything, just in the act of persuading the other person. The only time I’ve felt differently is when I’m selling someone on myself, most usually in relationships.
Most everybody’s been on both side of a relationship breakup. The break-upper, trying to be gentle yet firm and not giving in to the sales pitch when the break-upee is fighting to stay together. And I’ve been the one fighting to keep the relationship when the girl wants to end it. I guess my normal objectivity goes out the window when relationship emotions get worked up. But that’s can be a good thing. When in a relationship, there should be no holding back.
I’ve grown accustomed to the usual disclaimers on any advertising related to wireless cellphone companies. But an ad on facebook caught my eye today for AT&T.
Disclaimer: I’m a former AT&T customer who left due to the outrageous internet rates they were going to charge me when I purchased a smartphone. I switched to Sprint for the $20 per month cheaper internet rates.
AT&T Ad
I am amused by AT&T’s lawyers coming out of the woodwork to update their disclaimers to more accurately reflect the contracts that they require their customers to sign to get the best deals on hardware. I’m used to the regular disclaimer “2 year contract required, early termination fees apply”. Simple, sweet, to the point. Then a couple years ago they added “3G not available in all areas”. I understand, don’t want to misrepresent AT&T’s (notoriously bad) 3G coverage. But now they’ve added “significant restrictions apply”. Has hell frozen over? Pigs flying? (Oh wait, their flu is flying around the world….bad example!). I guess some of AT&T’s recent bad press has them getting more sensitive to the response that their data rates (correctly) bring out of people. But I am overly glad that they are now at least hinting some of the (artificial) limits they are placing on their data plans.
Maybe people will see enough these disclaimers to cause them to look more closely at their usage agreements with their wireless carrier and start to ask questions on why they can’t use their phone or netbook the way they were designed. And start to demand that the large sums of money we are paying to the wireless carriers allow us to use their networks for our own purposes and not solely to increase their bottom lines.
Till Next Time
