Savannah Knightly

Seriously, spam mail has gotten sneaky, and it irritates the crap out of me. That said, it’s almost a Wile E. Coyote level sneakiness.

You see it mostly in the packaging of their envelopes. They try to disguise their advertisements as something else so that you open them. Which, honestly, backfires on them for me because when I open them and find out what they really are, I get mad and don’t want to buy from their company at all.

For example, one has started formatting their ads so that they look like an important government document. Down to that serrated seam you have to fold and tear off. Sometimes it’s even using the font and colors of a government check in the address pane, and finding out it’s not one does not engender feelings of good will.

Another one is actually from a company that I already have an account with, and they’re hiding their ads behind “Important account information enclosed. Action required.” kind of language. And it’s actually an ad. That one is downright infuriating. It makes me want to move accounts to another business because they’re essentially lying to me, and I don’t appreciate it.

The only satisfaction I get out of their sneakiness is that they still lose in the end. Plus, they’re spending money on all their fake outs, so I get some small consolation out of that.

But seriously, how did they think it was going to work. “Oooh, a government check. No, wait… it’s actually an ad for a loan. I’m in.” I sincerely hope there isn’t a demographic that works on because that’s kind of scary.

Would that work for you? (Please, please, let the answer be, “No.” 🥺)