There is an exposé in The New York Times today about all the ways big stores spy collect info on you so they can stealthily manipulate your purchasing habits. Did you know that without looking at you or (rudely) asking, just by analyzing when you buy a certain 25 products including unscented lotion, Target can tell you've entered the second trimester of your pregnancy? And buried five pages in is the bewildering tale of Febreze giving up on appealing to people with stinky homes — because people with stinky homes don't realize they're stinky. That's how they get so stinky. Who's up for a house swap and some honest feedback? Jolie?
Thursday, February 16, 2012
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The Secret Lives of Shoppers
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OH GOD.
I'm now terrified that my home is stinky.
@OhShesArtsy
My house currently is a little stinky but that's because I have fancy, fancy cheese in the fridge that is reeking up a storm. Ugh, is this a white whine?
@Tuna Surprise Whine and cheese nights are my favorite.
@Tuna Surprise Ooooh, fancy, fancy cheese! I'm jelly.
@OhShesArtsy I know right! "because people with stinky homes don't realize they're stinky." is the scariest thing I've read in a long time!
@out of order I read that and was like "how did these guys not build an ad campaign around that?" Then I reminded myself to spray the couch with fabreeze when I get home.
@OhShesArtsy Or a TV show on TLC! LMFAO can do the theme song "I'm stinky and I didn't know it"
@out of order I am pretty sure my home is stinky. I should get rid of my cat, he is revolting.
Um, some of us always have to be picky about scents/buy unscented stuff because we ALREADY get sick if smells are too strong. I can never get pregnant because I imagine I won't be able to smell at all without throwing up.
@Megan Patterson@facebook Yeah, my second trimester has been dragging on for at least a decade.
@Anita Ham Sandwich I also buy prenatal vitamins because it makes my hair nice.
Not that Target even needs to try to get me to shop all in one place, because I already do that anyway.
@Megan Patterson@facebook Totally off topic, but I'm assuming you recommend the prenatal vitamins? I've been taking Biotin, but I don't really love or hate it. I'm definitely only freaked out about prenatal vitamins because they're called prenatal vitamins.
@elizabeast I just started taking them. Ask me in a few weeks. I'm hoping they make my nails stronger and my hair shinier. I hid them so no one I live with thinks I'm pregnant.
@Megan Patterson@facebook And Febreze in particular has this underlying... thing that makes my throat feel scratchy and closed up. Oh, I am such a picky scent/odor-diva. And I actually wish that the whole "smoking kills your sense of smell" thing were true! My life would be way easier.
@elizabeast In my vitamin buying experience, health food store prenatal vitamins have nearly identical ingredients as a women's daily multivitamin just more of them, percentage wise. There are also pills called Hair, Skin and Nails which have all the same crap in them as the other two. In case you don't want people being all, "Whaaa, prenatal pills?" on you.
@Megan Patterson@facebook My nails are not any stronger, but my hair is definitely a bit thicker and glossier, which is nice.
@Megan Patterson@facebook prenatals definitely made my nails amazing, but they also made me throw up every morning, like an actual pregnant person. I take biotin with an only slightly less awesome effect on my nails and zero puking.
@Megan Patterson@facebook I started getting A LOT more baby-related ads and catalogues as soon as I ordered prenatal vitamins from Amazon. Let me know if this happens to you.
@Hellcat One of my best friends has no sense of smell and thus failed to notice that his house was on fire until he saw the flames. Be careful what you wish for.
@Xanthophyllippa OH BOY! You do have a good point there! Alright, maybe I could just figure out a way to, you know, dull mine somehow? Or find something lucrative to do with it...
@catfoodandhairnets I got mine from Shopper's Drug Mart and they don't play that way (I don't think anywhere in Canada really does?). Oh, apparently Canadian Tire plays that way. But I don't really shop there.
@Megan Patterson@facebook I get ad emails from MEC, but I can't tell if they're targeted or not because I want everything in that store.
@Xaxa Well, you have to be a member to get stuff there, right? So it's definitely targeted, and they can easily track what you're buying.
@Megan Patterson@facebook I think Walmart does? I am not sure. I need to look into this. Winners asks for your postal code, so I give my work one. Heh. I also get emails from MEC but I want everything, too.
@Fig. 1 (formerly myfanwy) I was just at Winners not that long ago and bought stuff and I don't remember them asking for my postal code.
Well, I hope they're a tad more accurate than my interwebs, whose ads tell me my interests are primarily single Filipino dads in nursing school.
@JessicaLovejoy Seriously! Single dads in nursing school are my only interest and I don't get any ads like that????
@JessicaLovejoy God, I went to check out a couple of custom-made shirt web sites after an article about them in Slate or something like SIX MONTHS AGO and that's pretty much ALL I get in my Google ads now. I bet you're reading this right now, aren't you Google? Six more months of shirt ads for this guy!
@Jon Custer I read that article too! And wished so badly they did this for women. Also that my boyfriend at the time would shop there.
@JessicaLovejoy Ugh, internet ads. When I got engaged a few years ago, the ads on my Facebook all of a sudden turned into ads for mothers groups, day care, nursery decor, etc etc. I was like, "Oh, so apparently getting married instantaneously leads to giving birth. Ring on finger=bun in oven. Got it."
Actually looking at my gmail ads, I'm seeing a lot of "why men pull away" "how to catch him and keep him" and "7 reasons why your marriage is failing"
maybe I do need to look through google's new privacy policy properly.
@olivebee I used "y'all" once in a FB status and instantly began seeing ads for Civil War studies programs.
@redheadedandcrazy I get that "why men pull away" ad ALL THE TIME. Keep your opinions to yourself, Gmail ads!
Although I guess it's more likely to be applicable than the ones I noticed this morning which are trying to recruit me for a Catholic priest training thingy? I'm a female athiest.
@redheadedandcrazy I got a gmail ad yesterday about donating breastmilk? I don't even know. I've been trying to figure out the logistics if what I said that made them think that that would be a good ad for me. Maybe because I signed up to donate with the eye bank? But how does that translate to donating breastmilk? Google, I can't even right now.
@redheadedandcrazy This stuff is important!
@JessicaLovejoy I keep getting ads for corsets? And sure, if Google thinks I should buy a corset that's cool, but I have no idea where it's getting this.
As a quirk of my job, the servers for my office computers are in another country and we do a lot of writing in a language other than English. Add to this a period where a friend of mine and I decided to practice our German over gchat and I get ads in tons of langauges, most of which I don't even understand.
I think google has simply labeled me as "foreign" which is sort of hilarious to me.
@H.E. Ladypants For a while my job included referencing things. This was right after my thesis on the cold war. My amazon page thinks that I am a pro-choice republican with depression.
For a while all the facebook ads I got were '26 and STILL SINGLE?!' What, even.
@redheadedandcrazy I get those too! And I noticed it started happening on a day when me and my boyfriend sent a lot of emails back in forth in quick succession, most of which were just random links, but some of which were gross and lovey-dovey. Like, is Google trying to tell me to play hard-to-get, or something?
My grocery store started printing out register coupons for formula about a month before my baby was born, and I was completely mystified about how they KNEW. The only thing I could figure was that when I hit the second trimester I was buying a lot of kippered herring all of a sudden? (I know, disgusting, but I wanted them So Bad.)
@piggie Never apologize for kippered herring. If weird food tastes were the sole indicator of pregnancy, I would have a litter of twenty-five by now.
you guys would tell me if i smelled bad right?
...right?
guys?
@redheadedandcrazy Sorry, couldn't hear you; we were all standing wayyyy over here.
@SarahP Could you pass me the Febreze, please? Thanks!
Hows about when you walk up to the register at Duane Reade with a box of 40 generic-brand jumbo tampons, a bag of mini peanut butter cups, a bottle of 99-cent glitter nail polish, and a roll of toilet paper? What's the verdict - stinky house or no?
@werewolfbarmitzvah I like to imagine you're going to use the tampons as Molotov cocktails (using the flammable glitter nail polish) after TP'ing houses with flammable toilet paper. Mini peanut butter cups are to keep your energy up.
@werewolfbarmitzvah Depends whether or not cleaning or Netflix is your preferred period activity.
@werewolfbarmitzvah ohhhhhh man, i want peanut butter cups so bad right now. Mmmmf.
@wilarseny
NO!
Put them in the freezer first. For about 45 minutes.
Trrrrryyy ittttttt [house style tic]
@werewolfbarmitzvah You sound like fun!
@Anita Ham Sandwich I like how you think.
@atipofthehat I willllllll. I am also a user of the particular Manual of Style that encourages the use of repeated letterssssss, so you are clearly a trustworthy voice.
Things I discovered this week: Reese's Puffs are a really great cereal. Soooo gooooood.
@wilarseny I will be trying them now. Thank you.
Somewhat off topic: it's nice to have confirmation that Febreeze didn't always carry an awful stank with it. I remember using it when it was new and thinking it was kind of awesome, and then buying some a few years later and freaking out because it had a smell that made me itch, but not remembering it being like that before.
@celacia I can't use it anymore, either. I liked it when it first came out for the cat box room. Now It smells so strongly that I get a headache :(
@celacia Yes! I had the exact same thought. I bought it years ago when had my first grown-up job: I had to wear suits (sometimes) but very much begrudged the cost of having them dry cleaned. I recall that the Febreze worked really pretty well. When I tried it again a few years later, it was suddenly like the official scent of the Red Hat ladies.
@datalass Me too! I used to use it to get the smell of smoke out of sweaters after wearing them to bars. But it's kind of a wash now that Febreeze smells gross, and bars are non-smoking.
@Ophelia It's really pretty irksome that those of us who'd like to use the product as it was originally intended can't because of cues and rewards and all that psychology stuff.
@celacia Okay, seriously, I thought I was imagining things when it comes to Febreeze. B/c back in college, I used it to get the stank of stale cigarette smoke out of my non-machine-washable items (too poor for dry cleaning) and I thought my clothes smelled, you know, passably clean. A year or so ago, I bought some Febreeze to take with me on trips (I'm a flight attendant) to spritz my uniform blazer to keep it fresh-seeming and was horribly grossed-out by the smell. It's like the smell of the Febreeze compounded with the people smell lingering in the collar of my jacket. Gross gross gross. I've found that spritzing a bit of my perfume is a waaaay better bet than relying on Febreeze. Febreeze be nasty, y'all.
@TheSkyGirl Ugh, yes. I used to Febreeze my hard to wash sweaters in college ("Lay Flat to Dry" wtf? Where? How?). I tried it after the perfume addition and it is VILE. I get hives if I where it next to my skin.
@OhShesArtsy Oh, I am ashamed. "If I 'where' it next to my skin"?? Please forgive me of this grammatical sin.
@TheSkyGirl You are a flight attendant? Cool (or probably not cool, as you are used to it.) I have an extremely stationary job and life, so I always wonder what it's like to have a high-mileage job.
What I don't understand is that with SUCH a wealth of knowledge, why can't it be used for good? Couldn't so very very much of our shopping/purchasing be much more automated or at least faster? Why can't my online Target account know what I buy in stores and who I am? Why do I have to enter and re-enter my data from platform to platform? If I log-in as me on Target.com, why do I have to re-log in for credit card and pharmacy services? Why would they ever run out of my favorite flavor of Lip Smacker? If they know I'm married, any chance they can flag my husband when he's buying the wrong kind of unscented moisturizer? And for god's sake, NO, I don't need a RedCard. I have one, I'm just not using it today. Should they at least know that?
(I know, realistically, that the answer is privacy concerns. Especially among those older or more paranoid or less connected.)
@Party Falcon Jewel Osco knows I have a Discover card and is constantly printing me reminders prodding me to use it when I check out. It gets super annoying, actually.
Is it terrible/a sign of generational malaise that I don't even have the expectation of privacy? That I know I'm a collation of purchases, preferences, and RFIDs in a database somewhere, and I can't really be bothered?
@Bitterblue Me too. The data is going to get collected, I can't stop it. Whatever.
The least they could do though, for the price of my shopping privacy, is to make my life easier.
@Party Falcon I agree! For instance, can we start being able to opt out of ads for things we already have, like Netflix? I get it. It's great. I don't need to be incentivized to purchase it with a dumbass ad! That would be super.
However, I don't think it will happen unless it somehow coincides somewhere with somebody's profit margin.
@Party Falcon Because it defeats the purpose if YOU know they know everything about you.
@nyikin Why? Because I would then change my behavior, if I knew I was being observed? Are we getting all Schrodinger up in here?
@Party Falcon I think if we (as a society) were confronted with the extent that Target/whoever collects data, at least some people would complain, and it would turn into an issue demanding transparency. It just seems more prudent for companies to keep their data collection on the DL, instead of shoving it in consumers' faces.
+ I would imagine that if you knew you were being targeted, it may influence your receptiveness to advertising?
So if I buy a lot of the caramel coffee cake candles at Target, that's probably a sign that my house smells right?
I just checked my last Target receipt and it had one of the above candles, sports bras, hand soap, eggs, 10 Chobanis in assorted flavors, shredded cheese, frozen chicken, and makeup remover wipes. Tell me, what does it mean?
@ImASadGiraffe In the last place I lived, I tended to pick up items as and when I needed them, rather than do a bigger grocery shop once a week, and I noticed I always ended up buying things in threes in weird combinations. Ham, shampoo and spinach. Chocolate, string and a lemon. Pasta sauce, cookies and a bra. If I was the grocery store I'd've enjoyed trying to work out what the fuck I was planning to do with my evenings.
@rayray Ha! That reminds me of this one time when my husband was purchasing some stuff on drugstore(dot)com, and he g-chatted me while I was at work to see if I could think of anything on which we were running low. I told him we needed cat-nip toys and cat treats, and he replied "Great. Now my cart is filled with cat stuff, condoms, and lube. This must look really fucked up to the people filling orders."
@olivebee Wasn't there an early Facebook app related to this? Something where you listed 5 items that would be weird to buy together.
@rayray I have a tendency to be disorganized and buy in weird combinations as well - my all-time favorite purchase was in college when I bought tequila, lube and a knife. I think I might have gotten tissues or something, too.
@arrr starr New column: What's In Your Basket Right Now?
@klibberfish or tell me what you buy and I'll tell you who you are...
@arrr starr @kibberfish: I would totally read either of those.
Once I was grocery shopping and I had a massive headache, and when I was checking out at the self-checkout, it printed me a coupon for Excedrin. That was pretty weird.
But I know that stores online and offline use discount cards and customer loyalty programs to track what you buy and when you buy it. That "the future" is personally tailored ads for you on every surface. Considering all the much more horrible future!scenarios (Zombie Apocalypse, Yosemite Supervolcano Exploding, Worldwide Water Crisis, Women being stripped of their rights and forced to compete to the death in an arena and then the winner has to bear multiple babies with telepathic abilities until she dies too) a world in which I get offered coupons for chocolate because Jewel Osco knows I'm PMSing really isn't such a bad one to contemplate.
Within two weeks of getting married, the husband got a catalog that is usually addressed to him but this time was addressed to "Mr and Mrs [his last name]." Neither of us changed our names, we didn't have registries or wedding websites or anything... it was totally mystifying. How did they know?
Things like this are scary, basically.
@SarahP okay now THAT is scary!
@SarahP I have gotten mailings addressed to me by my boyfriend's last name (Mr. Boyfriend and Ms. Ladypants Boyfriendslastname) and we're not even married! Just living together!
It is pretty freaky.
@SarahP Only tangentially related, but I just got a save-the-date for my high school reunion. It showed my name as [my first name] [my last name] [my husband's last name]. The thing is, I've no idea how the reunion committee got my husband's last name, because I've only ever used my first name/last name on anything I've sent to them.
@datalass I feel like in that small scale instance, it could just be someone going through Facebook to double check names/spellings/etc. But then, I don't know how big your high school was.
@Maria My school was definitely small enough for that, but I'm not on Facebook (long story) and my earlier post was misleading in that it's not just that I didn't use husband's name in that context but rather that I've never used his last name.
@datalass
Re: first name / last name--this reminds me of the story about the mob witness who was placed in the Witness Protection Program. The first time he went to the mailbox, there was a fundraising letter from his college alumni association.
@atipofthehat I totally believe this. The people at my college alumni fund would be able to find me anywhere.
@datalass I think there's a lot more of this than most people notice, because they ARE taking their husband's last name. My mum kept her maiden name, and we used to get things addressed to Mr and Mrs [last name]. She generally called and chewed them out, on principle. It's pretty rude, really.
@SarahP If you want to piss my mom off, call her by my dad's last name. Oh, they're still married.
@whateverlolawants Ha! It doesn't upset me (I think it sounds all quaint and housewifey), I just don't want to be a [his last name]. I've been a [my last name] all my life and I'm happy with that! But it's creepy that Crate and Barrel knows we got married. And assume I'm taking his last name, actually. C&B, it's 2012! I live in Boston! Get with it!
@whateverlolawants If you want to piss me off, call me Mrs. Husband HisName. You won't hear the end of it. MY name is Ms. OhShesArtsy MyName HisName and I expect to be called that. I'm kind of infamous for it among my friends and family, they send things addressed to my husband as Mr. OhShesArtsy MyName HisName.
@Craftastrophies Telemarketers call and ask for Mrs [Fig 2 lastname]. I grin and say "There's nobody here by that name" and they apologize and hang up. Heh heh heh. (I'm married, and Canadian, so still polite to telemarketers.)
@Fig. 1 (formerly myfanwy) We were in the phone book under K and M, so we'd get called twice. And both times you'd get to say 'sorry, there's no Mrs K/M here!' Because there wasn't!
I used to have a policy of being polite to telemarketers, always. They are just doing their jobs! Jobs which already suck without me being rude. But I've had some really aggressive people lately who I have basically had to hang up on. And then I felt awful. Solution: I don't keep my home phone plugged in.
@Fig. 1 (formerly myfanwy) I've done that many times for my mom!
My dad knows somebody who used to work in that industry (the data-gathering, I mean), and he says that apparently the credit card company can tell if a couple is going to get divorced like six months in advance, before maybe even they know, based on the charge patterns.
So basically I'm flipping a coin as to whether we are living in an Aldous Huxley or a Philip K. Dick kind of world.
@miwome Omg, I want to know more!!
@miwome I am fascinated by this. I vote that your dad write a blog and submit it to The Hairpin.
@Amy Mauk@facebook Seconded!
@all Ha, I can ask him more about it, or to put me in touch with the guy in question! But my dad would write an awesome blog if I could get him to loosen up, he knows so many weird and interesting people that it's kind of boggling. The problem is he does a lot of "business writing" and whatnot and he's very...locked into a style, it seems.
But I could interview him sometimes! That might be really fun!
@miwome Oh, I always wonder what the credit card people think! Something like, "This woman's collection of dresses appears to be updated regularly... possibly due to frequent pizza, beer, and inactivity as indicated by numerous book purchases."
@miwome That's so interesting. I wonder, do you think it was couples who had separated and then got divorced 6 months later (which could be fairly easy to discern if, say, one of them started buying the essentials you'd need for a second household, like a mop, iron, etc.)? The more intriguing scenario, though, would be to imagine that you could predict divorces among couples who hadn't even consciously set the ball in motion yet.
@miwome I want to know more too! Is it because they are charging for a lot of hotel rooms all of a sudden because they're kicked out/banging someone on the side? Putting online dating charges on the card? Going out for more fancy meals?
@datalass My understanding is that the more intriguing scenario is indeed what this guy was talking about. My bet is it has to do with noticing they start to spend money at different places from one another, indicating they're not going places together as often; maybe they start buying more alcohol, or going out to dinner a lot (date night, you know, to try to reignite the spark/have A Talk/etc); things like that.
It reminds me of this OTHER thing my dad told me, about a guy who figured out his wife/gf (I don't remember) was cheating on him with his best friend, because they were both Foursquare fanatics and they would both suddenly stop checking in at the same time, for the same amount of time. Clever, unfortunate guy.
@miwome Oh, that is fascinating! To add to the chorus above, this would make an awesome blog.
@miwome I know I had heard reference to the same thing before, so I googled a little, and here's the first link I found: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/04/06/how-mastercard-predicts-divorce.html
I swear I read something more specific about it though, and it involved the amount of beer purchased... back to the googles!
@Lil Sebastian I've heard that the combination of buying a full tank of gas, tennis shoes and a tv will give you a fraud flag on your card, and the company will call you or block your card, since those are the things that most people do after they've stolen a cc.
I'm fascinated with these patterns we make that we're not aware that we're making.
@miwome My mother pointed out that many couples who are about to spilt up start going crazy with decorating/home repair, when they weren't into it before. I've since noticed that a bunch of the open houses my husband and I go to that have half-finished projects are from couples splitting up. DUN DUN DUN.
Of course now when friends of ours are like "We're thinking of fixing up our place," my first thought is "THEY ARE EITHER HAVING BABIES OR SPLITTING UP OMG"
@miwome
This is SO so interesting. Seriously, call him up and then tell us more in the Open Thread! All of this stuff is really cool!
@SarahP
A Haunting also teaches that remodeling is how to wake up ghosts. They often cause the couple to split up, usually due to the ghost only haunting one partner and making the other one think their partner is crazy. INTRIGUE.
@Inkcrafter So the remodeling isn't actually because of marital discord, the marital discord is because of a ghost stirred by remodeling. It all makes sense now!
@SarahP
I have a very Paul Mooney stance on hauntings due to paranormal shows never featuring minority ghosts done wrong by modern majority: no raped and murdered women, no slaves, etc. Maybe those ghosts just don't get on TV, big surprise.
However, it'd be interesting to see a documentary on someone in an unstable marriage who starts seeing things/having nightmares during the "regain the spark" phase. Possibly catalyzed by stress, being alone more frequently and not being used to it, and other factors?
@Inkcrafter UGH I never really noticed that, but it's totally true. And now I'm angry. I would be interested to see if the people making the paranormal shows SEE those ghosts and don't air them, or don't see them. That would be telling, no?
@Craftastrophies
I noticed it after this revolutionary house that "had a plantation" was haunted by some old white guy who died of some trivial-ass shit. Then I heard Paul Mooney's sketch on it and was validated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeDZ7H-b3yA
On an unrelated note, his eyelids and his smirk <3 nom <3
@Inkcrafter Oh... MAN.
To all of that.
Fun (maybe?) story about Febreze: My sister used to work as a theatrical costumer and when Febreze first came out, the costumers- they loved it! Foul smelling actor coats and shoes after a night of hot stage lights? No problem! Spritz, spritz and ready to go for the next without having to do heavy cleaning every night.
Then they added the fragrance. And the fragrance- it builds up and the Febreze doesn't work the way it used to. The costumers stopped using it but it was too late. Cue panicked, slightly revolted actors offering up their painfully foul-smelling garments and begging for aid, only to cry out, "but I've been using Febreze!" And then my sister and her co-horts would shake their heads and say, "oh no, that'll only mask things and eventually make them stronger now." And sigh. Back to the twice and thrice weekly washings they went.
@H.E. Ladypants Costumers for the ballet use cheapass VODKA in spray bottles for this! It doesn't wreck all the schmancy sequins and details and fabrics and whatnot!
@MsChilePepper I have vodka sprayed costumes for a play. It was one of the most oddly thrilling experiences I've ever had (I was not yet 21 so it still felt illegal and edgy).
My favorite pastime while watching Hoarders is to spot the bottle of Febreeze. One of the two homes featured ALWAYS has a bottle of Febreeze somewhere.
Honestly though, it's a long read but a good one. I highly recommend taking the time.
I think I've shared this before on here, but apparently Facebook can tell if a couple is going to start dating two weeks or so before they change their relationship status. That is why I don't believe in relationship statuses!
@alphabiddycity You know, I bet they usually can. But with me, when I type in my bf's name, it takes a while to even pop up. We're not linked like "in a relationship WITH Mr. Whateverlolawants", but I would have thought they'd KNOW anyway.
@whateverlolawants I think probably there are people who are friend with both my bf and I who don't know we're dating. There are two pictures of us together, one from the night we got together and one from a month later. He's posted something on my wall maybe twice in the last year, and I never have - I usually just message it straight to him.
I am not sure if I am pleased or disgruntled by this.
@Craftastrophies That sounds a lot like us. I think there are 6 photos of us together, but that's not much compared to me and my bff or my sister. And we rarely interact on FB, although FB was what brought us together. We went to high school together and went separate ways for 7+ years, then I saw him on a friend's page and thought, "Oh, that cute guy from my art class..."
I do have a particularly keen sense of smell.
@Jolie Kerr Of course you do.
Holy crap. Is this why a couple years ago Target started sending me "Congratulations on your new baby" stuff complete with giant catalog??? Did I accidentally buy those 25 items?
@Maria You statistical anomaly, you!
@Ophelia Ha! Nah, I just took it as a corporate retailer judging my life decisions. "Oh, you're nearly 30, certainly you're pregnant by now, no?"
@Maria God, that would suck if you were pregnant and had a miscarriage or stillbirth.
I know (hope??) the two are unrelated, but I got such a sinking feeling reading all this stuff about how pregnant women are of such value to retailers in combination with reading all this other stuff about attacks on birth control access. You guyyyys. Why such a battlegrounddddd.
@leastimportantperson Time for another Margaret Atwood thread!
@leastimportantperson
Target is literally GIVING AWAY those new midcycle "just-in-case" tampons, "NOW WITH RANDOM SPERMS!"
@atipofthehat Okay how am I supposed to say "no" to free stuff?
I don't care if I have a stinky house, it's better than having a house that smells like FEBREEZE. Ugh! Gross!
@tortietabbie Yes, that is also a category of 'stinky'.
Yay Jane Marie for freeing this article from the paywall!
@cloudy
Yes!
And, although you posted it, Jane, I can't rid myself of the suspicion that it's here because Edith's "dollhouse versions of surgical theaters" GoogleAlert went off.
Wow, this part of it rings so so true:
Our relationship to e-mail operates on the same principle. When a computer chimes or a smartphone vibrates with a new message, the brain starts anticipating the neurological “pleasure” (even if we don’t recognize it as such) that clicking on the e-mail and reading it provides. That expectation, if unsatisfied, can build until you find yourself moved to distraction by the thought of an e-mail sitting there unread — even if you know, rationally, it’s most likely not important. On the other hand, once you remove the cue by disabling the buzzing of your phone or the chiming of your computer, the craving is never triggered, and you’ll find, over time, that you’re able to work productively for long stretches without checking your in-box.
YES YES that happens to me.
Also, the story about the guy who came in pissed off about the stuff that his teenage daughter was getting in the mail is amazing.
@thebestjasmine I was just talking about this last night with my cousin.
I cannot stop myself from checking my email about once every 15 minutes at work. But on the weekend, I avoid the computer, and I can go the whole two days without checking it with no troubles. I am trying to keep it this way and not set up cues and rewards associated with my home computer, although I hadn't realised until now that that was what I was doing. This is also why I refuse to have a smart phone, because I KNOW I'll be lying in bed trying to sleep and fighting the urge to check it.
I use my mom's Air Miles card, so I like to think I'm singlehandedly skewing the data for women in their mid 50s.
To be honest I'm only halfway done reading the article, but guys....honestly, I kind of love this stuff. I want companies to learn everything about my buying habits. I mean, when Kroger notices I've been buying ten kinds of Smart Ones desserts and sends me a coupon for Skinny Cow, or notices I buy chicken every week and sends me recipes? I love it. I would MUCH rather that the advertising being thrown in my face all day be actually relevant to me and my buying patterns than just have them throw whatever coupons at me and hope one sticks. If they can follow my patterns and anticipate my needs for me, they are annoying me far less and actually helping me. I'm in favor of that.
@KeLynn Yes, this. I have actually found some great things through targeted gmail ads. I am basically resigned to my data being collected and crunched, and to be advertised to. I may as well get something out of it! The scary bit is where they might use it to manipulate me into buying things I don't want, but that's what advertising is, right? So if they can manipulate me into buying things that I already need, then, hooray!
Also, I know that list of data they have about you was supposed to scare me, but that's all stuff that I don't care about, and it's public. I'm fine with data about where I live and how old I am being out there. Frankly, I'm much less worried about private companies having it than my government, because the companies only value it as profit making info.
@Craftastrophies That's what rubs me the wrong way about it, actually--the profit-making info part. Companies are using data about you to make money off of you and people like you. You're (we're) giving them free money, basically.
I would really like to know why Proctor and Gamble keeps sending me formula coupons? Also guides to being a new mother. This has been happening for years.
@Nutmeg you must be very clean and moistuirized.
i am going to pay more attention to the coupons i get at target. come to thinkof it, target DID start being my main store when i had my first baby/pregnancy. now it's just habit. i have started skewing over to fred meyer (they don't have these in california, i LOVE THEM!) because it's about 2 miles closer than target.
most of my coupons are for laundry soap, febreze and fabric softener. i buy all free and clear because i have sensitive skin and allergies. coupons will not change this.
My checkout coworkers would play this "what is going on in their life" game on slow nights after ringing up purchases.
Very old man wanders around the store for an hour, then buys only a Hungry Man and Jack Daniels.
Lady buys like fifty cans of wet cat food that are all different brands and flavors.
Young dude runs through store and buys pregnancy test, rethinks the credit card, and pays with cash instead.
We started to wonder what the best-engineered purchase would be to mess with the checkout clerks. Bleach, a tarp, a rope, and a hatchet? A bottle of Astroglide and a butternut squash ?
This article was massively inspirational! I'm getting a Ph.D. in data science and can't wait to make mad money off this shit.