What the flip! When promotional merchandise is a flop

I have a family member who attends conferences a couple times a year where a lot of big name brands throw a lot of cash at their promotional items. Let’s just say I have given strict instructions to say no to free sh*t, unless it is something we actually need, and that we will definitely find useful.

This has worked fairly well for many years, until… he was given an entire (logo’d) picnic bag filled with promo items at the last shindig. And in that bag, was a pair of thongs!

Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against thongs themselves, but I do have a strong objection to hundreds of one size fits all (ah… no it doesn’t), branded (seriously?), basic quality thongs being force fed to delegates. It came with a cleverly worded marketing note about how this company doesn’t flip flop with their strategy.

I like a word play as much as anyone, but not when it’s an unnecessary drain on the planet. While I won’t name and shame the company here, I did return the thongs with a polite note explaining why I think they should rethink the resources (monetary and planetary) they put into their future marketing.