I just opened Olivia's baackpack from pre-school and unloaded a treat from one of her classmates. i saw a Mounds bar sticking out and knowing she would never eat it, I opened the goody bag and instead of a tasty treat I grabbed this:
Want to have mounds of fun!
Be a smartie (also in the treat bag)
and host a Pampered Chef party with _________________.
Hmmmm, I thought. Soliciting via pre-school treats. Maybe a bit tacky?
I also love a certain blog whom many people love as well. Many creative people who have businesses. And they send her many things because they love her, but maybe with a small hope that she will love them too? Enough to feature the gift in a blog post like this one. Thus sending a lot of traffic their way? Is it a genuine gift?
So the dilemma in my mind is how tacky / appropriate is it to ad-gift? Whether at pre-school, the blog world, neighbor gifts this Christmas? Is it OK to send someone a gift with the ad for your business included and maybe the small expectation attached with it?
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5 comments:
That is so cheesy to send an ad home with a preschooler! Those blogs, I think, do posts like those to keep their own ad quota up. Otherwise, how else are they going to keep on getting paid to blog? But no business should be attached to gifts...it should be 100% free of "strings attached" I think.
What business doesn't hand out free swag? Calendars from insurance agents, pens at the bank (well, that was before they started tanking)...it's all promotional giveaways. They know they won't get a customer with each one, their just hoping to get noticed and hoping that someone will remember their business when they actually need what they sell. If that makes any sense.
I'd just ignore it and take the treat.
A few Christmases ago, my parents received a beautiful Christmas plate with cookies and treats....it appeared that the generous neighbor was going a little overboard with the neighbor gifts. But of course, who's going to complain? There was a letter attached which started off by sharing news about the family, with a photo. But as you read down through the letter, it turned into a campaign ploy for Mitt Romney. This neighbor, a Utah campaign advisor, was soliciting donations for Romeny in his neighborhood Christmas gift. The conclusion of the letter straight up asked for donations. It definitely rubbed us the wrong way. Nice family, inappropriate venue for raising campaign funds! No funds were donated but we kept the gift - ha!
I agree with Courtney. Soliciting in preschool gifts is way tacky. Actually I'm not a big fan of that any time, although I don't own my own business and know how it is to try and bring in customers. One of our neighbors sells insurance and does quite well. Both of their cars, however, have a big huge picture of his face and a cheesy slogan and insurance company plastered all over them... like HUGE. I'd die before I'd want to drive that thing around! But they also have a gorgeous house way bigger than mine, so I guess it's a trade-off. You got me thinking though Nicole :)
Depends on the gift and where you get it. If its a Scentsy, maybe it would be a good idea to include how the gifted person could get replacements of the product, but if its just a product that doesn't depend on other products like kitchenware then perhaps an ad would be too much. I think it depends on the gifting occation. Just because is totally acceptable if you are advertising. For a wedding, maybe a little overboard.
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