manipulation

Marketives

There was a time when few among our friends or relatives used to bring our home their friend, who is into some expectation of selling some item. People used to call it by the name ‘Network marketing’.
The occupation of that other person was to persuade us into purchasing the futile bundle of items or scheme he used to bring along.

It was not sure if our relative/friend felt guilty for bringing him. It was also possible that he himself was under the delusion of his friend’s scheme. But almost every single time, none of them were able to pass the delusion to us. We had to buy from a few, out of generosity, provided that the things are modest. Afterward, we made a point to keep away from that relative who brought that awkwardness to us.

Fast-forward to 30 years, this network marketing culture still exists. I have also lost a few friends who tried to trap me into so called ‘seminars’. Unlike our parents, our generation is not adequately polite to engage these advertisers out of liberality.

Indian Baby boomer generation is still considerably more liberal than us. Indeed, even in the wake of realizing that the other individual is doing a misleading promotion, they fail to refuse the offer for the fear of souring relationships. There are plenty of scammers already taking advantage of this and losing value among their friends and relatives.

Driven by Rewards

candy

First day of the month is the day of payments for me. To pay all the credit cards bill at one place, I use the service called CRED. In turn, CRED uses me to sell its products to me. Here is how.

As usual, I paid a card bill. Alas! Bravo, it’s a task to pay the bill, so here is your reward for completing it: CRED gave me the game to spin the wheel (A skeuomorph of a typical casino game) 10 times. It promised that if I get 7- 7- 7 on each wheel, I will get something big.

A free game! Why not. I started spinning. For each spin you have to pay 1000 Cred coins (Yet another useless reward coins you get whenever you pay credit card bill. 1 rs payment = 1 cred coin). Each spin is designed in such a way that during round 5 or 6 you will be rewarded with something smaller of what you get if you hit the jackpot.

At round 5 I got some pattern matched and wow! Congratulations to myself, I got 8 days free membership at Cult fit!. Then I noticed, this game was sponsored by Cult fit- A fitness organization.

According to Cult fit: I got totally satisfied with the reward of 8 days free membership to their classes. Definitely I will try that. They can influence me in those 8 days to enroll me into their annual or monthly plans. After all, fitness is what we all worry about. ‘Taking care’ of myself is what matters in the end in this polluted, contaminated and adulterated world.
Oh! For 8 days, shouldn’t I shop for some workout outfits? After all, I must look healthy lifestyle enthusiast. Wait, Cultfit has their own clothing brands to satisfy my needs. They can’t be more good to me!

Meanwhile, CRED: See, you got a reward of 8 days of free membership just by paying a card due amount. We are so charitable. Would you like to try some more spins sponsored by other companies? If not, we have some more games and rewards for you. After all, keeping you glued to the app is utmost important to us so that we can sell more ads and attract more potential sponsors. Don’t you believe us? Ok, let us give you real cash backs of 2 Rs. Hope you believe us now. We work for your welfare.

Damn, I am uninstalling CRED.