I’m back in the saddle after an awesome wedding and honeymoon! Praise God!
I’ve been trawling through my emails (as you do when you return from holidays), and came across an interesting email from Magnation. I subscribe to their emails for news on interesting magazine releases. Their e-newsletter this time around was promoting Valentine’s Day purchases, with some not-too-subtle references to sex – basically suggesting that buying a magazine for a loved one will lead to more sex. This approach isn’t particularly unexpected in modern marketing. What was unexpected was the footer at the bottom of the email which read:
“Complaints about our resorting to sexual references to sell a product can be directed to info@magnation.com.
Please put in the subject box “I am a prude and I deserve a spanking” and we will do our best to respond to you in an appropriate and sensitive manner. And if you want to unsubscribe you can do so here. We promise to not publicly ridicule you or publish your name in the obituaries columns, although you will of course, be dead to us.”
Was the insensitive work experience student steering the ship in the marketing department the day this email was sent out?!
I’m not sure how ridiculing your customers can ever be seen as a good approach to increasing sales or promoting good will. Sure, it might make you look edgy and cool to a particular demographic within your subscriber base, but it’s at the expense of alienating another (perhaps larger) bunch of customers. Is that worth it?
I wasn’t particularly offended by the email, but I was by the footer – though its font size was small, its impact was significant.
What’s the message for us as Christian communicators with many of our churches using email newsletters? Every part of the message, from head to toe, is important. Read and re-read what you’ve written. And if you’re going to offend, make sure it’s worth it.
