Things that caught my eye #5

Marketing schemes, the economy, and rolling along

When I was a young child, one of my brief, strange passions was creating fake direct mail marketing schemes. I carefully crafted page after page of outlandish promises, encouraging the hapless recipient to just read one more offer, write one single check, to receive riches beyond their wildest dreams. I made promises like “if you act today, you’ll also get 50% off this top-ranked set of encyclopedias!”

This was in the ‘70s and early ‘80s, the heyday of Publishers Clearing House. On a regular basis, they sent big envelopes that bulged with garish paper, stickers and  exclamation points, and offers too good to be true, to American households across the land. These mailings were like car crashes to me—horrifying, and I could not look away.