Toy surprises buried in cereal boxes or in bags of popular snacks have been a marketing tactic for as long as package goods have been sold in supermarkets. Most people probably can’t even imagine a Cracker Jack box without a prize inside.
Giveaways are not just for kids; adults have long participated in incentive giveaways, ranging from a free tote with the purchase of makeup or perfume at a department store, to $500 gift cards with a new account at the local bank. All of these giveaways are designed to entice the consumer to try particular brands and services.
Recognizing the power of free offers to drive consumer purchases, Retiree Direct LLC, a leading Internet marketing company, has taken the concept to the next level. Through the company’s Web site, consumers can obtain a variety of rewards including mobile phones, flat-screen TVs, laptops, PlayStation and other game consoles, digital cameras, gift cards and more, simply by completing advertisers’ surveys and signing up for subscriptions and free trial offers. The Web site is sponsored by well-known advertisers such as BMG, Blockbuster, Netflix, Discover Card, USA Today, Disney and hundreds of others. Upon registration, consumers are directed to a special area of the site where they can complete advertisers’ surveys and sign up for subscriptions or free trials and redeem their rewards. Trials or subscriptions can be canceled without obligation.
Contrary to hype, three quarters of all children work in agriculture and with their families. Less than 1 percent work in mining and another 2 percent in construction. Most of the rest work in retail outlets and services, including “personal services” – a euphemism for prostitution. UNICEF and the ILL are in the throes of establishing school networks for child laborers and providing their parents with alternative employment. But this is a drop in the sea of neglect. Poor countries rarely proffer education on a regular basis to more than two thirds of their eligible school-age children. This is especially true in rural areas, where child labor is a widespread blight. Education – especially for women – is considered an unaffordable luxury by many hard-pressed parents. In many cultures, work is still considered to be indispensable in shaping the child’s morality and strength of character and in teaching him or her a trade.
“The Economist” elaborates: In Africa, children are generally treated as mini-adults; from an early age every child will have tasks to perform in the home, such as sweeping or fetching water. It is also common to see children working in shops or on the streets. Poor families will often send a child to a richer relation as a housemaid or houseboy, in the hope that he will get an education. A solution recently gaining steam is to provide families in poor countries with access to loans secured by the future earnings of their educated offspring. The idea – first proposed by Jean-Marie Bland of the University of Namur and James A. Robinson of the University of California at Berkeley – has now permeated the mainstream.
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