This time of year Americans are incited to eat, eat, eat as much delicious holiday-themed food as possible, and then to lose, lose, lose the weight we gained with diet plans, gym memberships, appetite suppressing pills, and tummy tucks. Somehow I don’t think it’s random that I received a coupon for a scale designed to measure the weight of my person as I exited Target this holiday season.
Comments 25
salad — January 2, 2011
It is an advertisement with a coupon for a product that will be in demand for the new year. Is this bad?
Syd — January 2, 2011
I think it's random; the coupons they put on receipts usually strike me as pretty generic items that just about anyone COULD use at any given time. Maybe it's not, but you must admit, a bathroom scale is a LOT more ambiguous than a diet pill or a tummy tuck. One is an item that most people have somewhere in their homes and can be used for a variety of reasons, the others are things explicitly for not just losing weight but APPEARING THIN.
Guggiedaly — January 2, 2011
I like the intent behind this post, but having been in the "target world" of couponing...it's random. You can buy a box of cereal and get a coupon for tampons...
The scale coupons have been printing since August.
Now, if I could figure out how to avoid the formula coupons...
Kayte — January 2, 2011
If you have a Target store card and use it regularly, the coupons are most definitely targeted (ha ha) toward your purchase history. I even noticed it to some degree before I had a store card and would seem to get eerily "HEY YOU MIGHT WANT SOME OF THIS THING" coupons whenever I used my debit card to pay. I think for people who don't shop there often, the coupons are more random.
But it's by no means crazy to think that these aren't just random.
katerina — January 2, 2011
Christmastime is the season of letting go of will to eat reasonably, and January 1 is traditionally the time for setting new goals. I get a lot of crap coupons for things I don't want. I used to get some for cat food, do I think the store calculates that I must be a single woman over 35? I don't know how "sociological" this is as per ... anything. There is a positive trend of marketing right after Christmas to get people to join gyms, get on weight-loss plans, and buy a fresh pair of sneakers and sports bras and yoga mats. This is the wave you want to talk about maybe. Target doesn't think you're "too fat." Everyone thinks they are all too fat, this is the time of year they RESOLVE to rein in their unhealthy habits, conveniently timed right after people give themselves abundant permission not to think about it, eat and drink in excess. They know them, they know they are overboard. Is fatness like, I mean, I don't get it but I do. People should be encouraged to determine their own lives and be healthy. Is Target part of the problem, does it make you feel fat in an insecure way to get this coupon, when you think you should accept yourself? The cashier didn't personally print out that coupon when they got a look at you. It's a common theme of New Year's, and I don't think there's anything wrong with it. It's not complex, this is when people reflect on their goals for the year, and the road ahead is clear for them to not have any excuses not to. I don't think Target is encouraging people to be skinny as a stick and pressure them to unhealthy eating disorders by offering a discount on a bathroom scale. Slow day?
Emily — January 30, 2011
Did you buy any other home/bath stuff when you got that coupon? I find my Target coupons are anything but random - If I buy cat food, I'll get a coupon for a dollar off x many cans of that same exact brand. If I buy hot pockets, I might get a coupon for a frozen pizza, if I buy brand-name snack foods or cereals I get coupons for the generic Target version of those things, and so on. I don't think I've ever gotten a coupon for a product that I wouldn't conceivably buy based on what I bought on that specific shopping trip.