It has been a rather long while since the last give-away I received. Actually, the whole experiment hasn’t been as vibrant as I had imagined, but hey, that’s what experiments are for. Tor prove or disprove. In my case, the hypothesis of the thousand give-aways turning me into a rich man has been definitely disproven. Mainly because I give people angry looks when they approach me. Hell, someone could be trying to hand me 10,000 € in cash, and I’d never know. On the other hand, looking interested in each and everyone approaching me would probably turn me either into a homeless or a madman. Or quite possibly both.
Today I saw someone handing out something that looked like more than just a leaflet, so I paced my way just right so she could hand me one of those packages. And here it is:
Only when I unpacked it I noticed that it was microwave popcorn. I don’t own a microwave, and my anti-social tendencies have provided me with a rather low number of friends who do own one: zero.
In case you’re wondering. “Bob” is a new cell-phone company. Its claim to fame? Very cheap rates and a marketing budget the size of Albania’s GDP.
What is this? Well, while it may look like an ordinary pack of Chili con Carne base, it’s in fact much more than that. It’s yet another brainchild of a marketing division with money to burn. The product? A 15 minute loan.
I guess the initial meeting with the ad agency went like that:
Marketing hack: “We’ve got a new loan we want to promote. It’s a 15 minute loan.
Ad guy: Whoa, that’s really quite speedy.
Marketing hack: Speedy? As in Speedy Gonzales? Hahaha, you’re a genius! Here, have a cigarre, I’ll light it for you…WITH A 500 EURO BILL, HAHAHAHA!
And for the people who don’t watch TV, listen to the radio or read newspapers, they simply bought a whole lot of Chili con Carne base, slapped a sticker with Speedy onto it and now hand it out to unsuspecting future creditees.
I really should have gone into advertising.
Alright, so it’s not a give-away specifically for students, and it’s not exactly one give-away either, but I’ll still add it to the “give-away” section. It’s a door mat and slippers, all based on a pun involving a colloquial term for TV. What for? Digital TV.
This time my extreme procrastination came in handy, because I’ve actually thought about putting a “no ads” sticker onto our apartment door. Our neighbour has one, and she was slipper- and matless.
Well, who would have thought that the category “university give-aways” I created about three months ago would be such an extreme case of absolute failure? I mean, usually I’m showered with cheap lighters and exotic drinks throughout the whole semester, but it seems that last semester the union of marketing hacks had decided to get rid of university students as a desired marketing demographic. Thus, only three give-aways during the whole of the semester. But, elections in Vienna are coming up and all kinds of newspapers are hawking people for subscriptions, so the give-aways are back. Here’s one:
For the sake of full disclosure I’ll have to admit that it was indeed my girlfriend who received this wonderful give-away. As to the origin, we’re still fighting. She says someone from the People’s Party gave it to her, but I think I saw people from the Greens drinking that stuff at their booth today. Any which way, the stuff tasted vile.
Today I finally got ahold of two new give-aways. This part of my website has been suffering from a scandalous lack of entries, mainly because I have failed to pay attention to potential away-givers. Which again is due to an extensive use of my mobile mp3-player. Well, since elections for the students union are coming up, more and more people try to hand me stuff, so today I caved in:
Since I’m not inclined to do any kind of propaganda for these people, I’ve smudged the name of the pleading party. But I like the lighter, it seems solid enough and it’s refillable. The pen, well, it’s just another pen, but it’s free, so I won’t complain.
I’d rather complain about something else: I’m not going to be in Austria during the election (31st of May until 2nd of June), so I asked someone at the students union if there’s an option to vote before or maybe via Internet or absentee ballot. Well, there’s no option. Now, I do understand the plea of the student union to go and vote, because last time a mere 28% of the student body did vote. Which is disastrous and casts a certain light on the perceived importance of the students union. But if it’s so damn important for us to vote, why isn’t it possible for people who are not able to be there? Doesn’t this seem a bit provincial, amateurish even?
latest comments
RSS