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“Only Bell lets you watch TV on your smart phone.” While Bell’s version of mobile TV is subtly different from other forms of TV available to mobile users, I’ve been able to watch what I wanted on my smart phone well before “Ma Bell” gave me permission. Their high-handed proposition feels akin to giving a child a cookie. They could just as easily have said “mobile TV now available on your smart phone, exclusively from Bell.”
Ironically, their ad worked on me. Despite some resentment of the way it was phrased, it was still sufficient to prompt me to ask for more details when I updated my plan.
Examples like the latter got me thinking about whether it is effective to target consumer placidity. Are just as happy to be “granted access” as we are to stand up for ourselves and demand the products and services we expect should be available, and at a reasonable price?
I recall a number of years ago when gas prices jumped; there was a social movement not to drive on specific days. The impact was enough to bring down the price of gas for a while. Yet mobile prices in Canada are among the worlds highest. We do little but pass the odd complaint, and accept the outrageous rates. And with the “Big 3” telcos squaring off against emerging players in the mobile market in the hotly-debated Spectrum Auction, the topic is hotter than ever.
We are seeing a surge in ads that seem to suggest that Canadians are content to receive nominal services at inflated rates. Tone and manner hint at “the privilege of their service,” though it may be expensive, limited, and attached to a contract that’ll last far longer than the initial product. Since it worked on me, perhaps it works on others. A shiny new thing, that I didn’t use before, but suddenly have access to. Maybe we’re hard wired as a polite nation to thankfully take what is granted to us, instead of demanding it, while the rest of the world get’s the cool stuff first, and often for much less.
Or do we?
Adam
January 25, 2012 @ 12:16 pm
The amount of money Canadians pay for mobile service, especially considering the (lack of) quality of service offered, is ridiculous. I understand that one cannot fairly compare mobile service in Canada to, say, that in Japan(where they have over four times the population of Canada crammed into a space barely bigger than one of the Great Lakes), but that does not justify the $70, $90, $120+ cell phone plans that Canadians are being forced to pay. Nor does it make the 3-year contracts any less immoral. To top it off, the telcos love to advertise how high-tech and high-speed they all are, yet the Japanese were watching TV on their phones a decade ago.
However, I don’t think it’s our collective “politeness” at play here, it’s our collective ignorance. Canadians, by and large, just don’t know how bad we’ve got it, or, more importantly, how much better things are elsewhere. If we did, I think we’d have ushered out the nickel and dime mobile plans and nigh-on illegal contract periods long ago.
With that in mind, I think this motherly, “you should thank us” approach to advertising is actually quite effective(in an evil genius sort of way). It’s an ages-old technique of manipulation – the same one applied by abusive spouses – take away privileges one by one, then make the subjugated partner feel grateful for what they still have.
It’s sad. It’s wrong. and it works all too well.
Ken Easson
February 16, 2012 @ 3:19 am
Figured i would provide a reference:
I’m in Dhaka Bangladesh on paternity leave, in the first month I managed to spend about $7 Canadian in celluar service charges, this included several lengthy calls to Canada (3 calls over 10 minutes) and my internet usage. I’m subscribed to a 15M for 15 taka, (about 18 cents) valid for 15 days. I will likely upgrade to 1G for 300 taka (about $3.65) valid for 30 days, or i could go unlimited internet for 850 taka (about $10.00) Subscription is all managed by Texting simple codes to start and stop the service, and prepade cards are available about every 100 meters in the city, and out in the country is easier to find Prepaid topup cards than places selling safe food and water. http://www.grameenphone.com/products-and-services/internet/internet-packages
12 years ago, there was virtually no cellular servince in the country, today it’s a booming business, creating massive employment with extensibe coverage by several major companies, only one of which is controlled and or protected by the governmnet, and almost nobody uses it cause it can’t remain competitive due to the politics governing it. The service from several of these companies is exceptional – notably Grameen, AirTel (an Indian Company) and Banglalink, the cost is affordable to all but the most poor, and while they do only reach EDGE speeds, has so far proven to be more reliable than the electricity.