The business world today revolves around advertising. No matter where you look – shirts and streets, screens and printed words – you’ll see messages intended to determine you to buy one thing or another (or, sometimes, to vote for one person or another). The methods through which businesses are trying to sell you things are diverse, some more subtle, others more direct. Today, I’d like to take a look at one specific way of advertising things, namely freebies, and why “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch”.
Free money
One of the preferred incentives online casinos offer their potential players (customers) is free money. The Vegas Palms, for example, offers its new players the chance to start the fun with $/€100 free, and all they need to do is return is make a real money deposit. The Vegas Palms and all other legit online casinos do, in turn, make it clear in their Terms and Conditions that these bonuses are not entirely free. Of course, you can use these funds to play any game in the vast library the Vegas Palms has to offer – what you can’t do is cash the free bonus money out. Instead, you need to clear it by playing through a specific amount first – at the Vegas Palms, this is 40 times the bonus amount. After completing this requirement, the bonus funds will transform into real, spendable cash that players can withdraw.
Free gifts with purchases
George Carlin, one of the greatest comedians our world has ever produced, has best described the practice of promoting a product with the addition of a free gift to the package:
And say, don’t forget to pick up your free gift: a classic deluxe custom designer luxury prestige high-quality premium select gourmet pocket flashlight.
And if you act now, we’ll include an extra added free complimentary bonus gift: a classic deluxe custom designer luxury prestige high-quality premium select gourmet leather style wallet. With detachable key chain, and a pencil holder.
It’s our way of saying thank you.
The free gifts you receive when buying something are great… unless they aren’t. Of course, sometimes they are useful – when, for example, you find it hard to decide whether to buy a bottle of Jack or Jim, it’s always better to pick the one that comes with two “classic deluxe custom designer luxury prestige high-quality premium select gourmet” glasses. After all, we’re not animals. Otherwise, these “classic deluxe custom designer luxury prestige high-quality premium select gourmet” bundles are good for one thing: to make you feel like you get more for your money’s worth.
But think about this: would any business give you something free if there wasn’t profit for them in there?
Free e-books
Last but not least, let’s take a look at today’s emerging online trend of blogs offering their visitors free e-books – and all they ask in return is for their email address. As usual, if something’s free, you are the product – the same goes for online publications and their free e-books. Of course, you get an “exclusive” publication – but at the same time you open up your inbox in front of a series of specials and promotions from the publication itself, as well as its “partners” and “sponsors”. And you can’t even say it’s spam, since you were the one who allowed them to send you these commercial messages…
