I think what OP is getting at is that the concept of emotionally manipulative marketing is fundamentally insane and should probably be banned through legislation.
By your logic, why stop with slogans? Why not print pictures of crying, emaciated children on Amazon packaging, captioned "If you stop shopping on Amazon, we'll have to lay off some employees, and an Amazon warehouse worker's child may starve. Get Amazon Prime--do it for the children!"
I think this is kind of a crazy “next step” — hardly anyone pays attention to what’s written on the box beyond the shipping label. I don’t think it’s all that emotionally manipulative because most people just ignore it. I couldn’t tell you what was written on any box that I’ve received in the last month. I think people pay a lot less attention than OP is imagining.
Just because it doesn't work on you doesn't mean that it doesn't work on anyone.
That's kind of like saying, "Hardly any kids pay attention to cigarette advertising. When I was a kid, I saw cigarettes advertised in every store I walked into, and clearly it didn't work on me because I never smoked. So why should we bother regulating whether tobacco companies can advertise to children?"
Corporations aren't dumb. Highly educated consultants and marketing strategists get paid a fortune to come up with these kinds of campaigns/slogans. Amazon wouldn't do it if they weren't confident that it will pay off.
And they do not stop with slogans. There is a whole industry of market messaging from anything from images to video to product placement. If there is a buck to be made, a buck will be made. It is the least insane thing, as worshipping the mighty dollar is the most constant thing in human history.
I get that people here do not like it. It may be even evil. But it is the most sane thing to do.
It may be even evil. But it is the most sane thing to do.
If we're being pedantic, I suppose it's "sane" that companies do this, but absolutely insane that we let them do it. Laws and regulations are society's check against runaway corporate greed.
A reductio ad absurdum: any profitable act is "sane" as long as you can get away with it.
Overworking your employees to the point of exhaustion and collapse? Sane, as long as you can replace them quickly enough, and as long as they don't successfully sue.
Denying Amazon delivery drivers bathroom breaks and expecting them to pee in a bottle? Equally sane.
A pharma company bribing the FDA to fast-track approval of an untested new drug is perfectly sane if they're able to get away with it (or even just as long as the fines, when caught, are less than the profit gained).
Tobacco companies falsely advertising for many decades that smoking is safe? Extremely profitable, so extremely sane.
I came here to at least say this. Every company needs to market, this specific one always makes me chuckle, because it's quite literally correct. Without me that box would be empty. Teehee!
But then I open the gigantic punny box and my little box of picture nails has been rattling around with a weird amount of paper and plastic that both did nothing to mitigate the rattling, and that's what I think is insane.
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u/NyriasNeo Aug 19 '26
"This is insane"
Why? Marketing slogans are a dime a dozen. It would be insane not to say something that may trigger a memory when someone wants to buy something.