Sunday, August 25, 2013

Target(ting) your privacy?

School accessories for kids I don't have...
Aftershave for a man I don't have...
Blenders, toasters, microwave... already have those...
Candy galore... all the kinds that I don't like...

...*sigh*... useless junk mail!

Can someone P.l-e-a-s-e send me some coupons that I can ac.tually use?!

Where’s a Target when you need one?

According to a Forbes article (Feb 2012) following Target’s hiring of Statistician Andrew Pole in 2002, until 2010 the store reported an increase in revenue of $23 billion ($44b in 2002 to $67b in 2010). I’d say someone is doing something right.

How Target figured out a teen girl was pregnant before her father did… Now there’s a heading that got my attention, and I simply had to read the article because, after all, curiosity killed the cat, right?

So before we get started, let me enlighten you with a summary of the article: teenage girl is having sex but dad doesn’t know. Based on her spending, the Target marketing team surmises – and right on target (pun intended ;) ) – that she is pregnant and start sending her coupons in the mail for all things baby. (Heaven knows, babies can be expensive; she is sure to need all the help she can get!) However, the angle of the article is not one of gratitude. It is because of these coupons that dad discovered the fact that his little girl is pregnant, and so the angle is the individual’s right to privacy instead.

But is it really a matter of privacy?