Geriatric Marketing #Fail – Haband.com
One of my friends (in his late 20s) bought a couple pairs of orthopedic shoes a few months ago and since then has been receiving promotional offers from Haband.com. The target demographic for Haband is obviously the 50+ crowd and there marketing reflects it. However, the most recent promotion my friend forwarded to me was an epic fail.
My Beef With This Ad
Let me start by saying I understand the importance of custom messaging, but this crosses the line in my opinion.This is a refurbished computer (they call it “factory serviced”) that only has 512 MB of RAM and they have the nerve to say “Sells for $799.99 elsewhere”. If by elsewhere they mean 2005, sure. While I think the $299.99 price tag is a little overpriced my main beef with this ad is that it assumes older computer users don’t know anything about computers and attempts to exploit that fact to sell lame computers that will frustrate the owners with their lack of speed and capabilities. What do you think? Am I being too harsh on Haband?
October 1st, 2009 at 11:41 pm
LOL! Huge fail.
My favorite part is the “Lightweight & Portable” bit. The thing looks like it’s at least 50 lbs!
I don’t think you’re being too harsh. This is a pretty good example of sleazy marketing. Shame on you, Haband.
October 15th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
[...] we saw their awesome “Feel Topless” socks and then we cringed at their condescending geriatric advertising. So what’s next for [...]
December 5th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
We just talked my mother in law into cancelling her order for one of these ancient laptops. And ordered her a new Acer from Tiger Direct, w/3 gigs of ram for $400, with dvd and 250 gigs of hard drive space–vs 40!
Haband should be ashamed. They’re taking advantage of elderly shoppers w/this crappy offer and deceptive ad.
December 7th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Couldn’t agree with you more. Luckily my grandparents talked to me BEFORE they bought a computer so I could make sure they got a respectable machine for the money (because they really don’t need a lot).