About a year ago, I received a pamphlet in the mail. On the cover was the picture of a peaceful young women tossing a salad. The caption says, "It's about time for some me time." Now doesn't that sound appealing? What woman doesn't want some me time? And if that isn't enough, the slightly smaller second sentence contains the highlighted words, a $50 gift card. With an imagination quick as lightening, the words me time and $50 gift card conjures up such visions of day spas, wonderful food, shopping and tranquil meadows. But then I read the entire second sentence. It reads, "Get checked today, and get rewarded with a $50 gift card." Upon opening the pamphlet, I realize that this pamphlet from my insurance provider is all about having a mammogram. Some ingenious marketer, whom I doubt has ever had a mammogram, has come up with the notion of marketing a mammogram as me time. And perhaps knowing that such a notion would in reality be a hard sell, the marketing team has sweetened the deal with the promise of a $50 gift card. I was amused and befuddled all at the same time. Mostly I was just disappointed that my yearly mammogram was not due for another 9 months. A $50 gift card sounded really nice. So I hung the pamphlet in my home office for humor as well as a reminder to claim my me time prize. At last it came time to have some me time in an awkward paper gown with a cold hard machine. But that is okay right, because I am going to get a prize. Well considering that my place of work changed Insurance providers just a couple of months prior, the only prize I received was an "all clear" letter a couple of weeks later. I know that such a letter is a prize that not everyone receives and therefore I am very grateful for it. However I think that even I could have convinced myself that I had engaged in a some real me time that December afternoon, if I had received the $50 gift card!
No comments:
Post a Comment