Deciphering auto dealers' promises

Ever wonder how your local car dealers can afford to make promises like these? “Zero-percent financing! Drive it away for just $189 a month! We’ll give you $4000 for your old car, even if you have to tow it in! And (my personal favorite) below-invoice prices!” Can dealers really afford to make such extravagant promises? […]

When marketers act like pushy strangers

Imagine a complete stranger walking up and demanding your name, phone number or other contact info. Whether it’s on the sidewalk or at a party, that degree of pushiness, especially by a complete stranger, would be totally unwelcome. And yet marketers do it all the time. I’m talking about those pop-up windows that ask for […]

Coming soon: Bigger, louder, more obnoxious ads

Hate those awful online ads ? You know the ones I mean. The ones that blink and spin and move around and morph into different shapes? Brace yourself. They’re about to get even worse. “The Online Publishers Association has created a series of new standards for really big, intrusive, bash-you-on-the-head sorts of advertisements, which you […]