Charitable Marketing

Charitable Marketing, originally uploaded by André Carrilho.

Via Flickr:
In the middle of a severe economic crisis, and after some disputes with labour unions, one of the biggest supermarket chains in Portugal decides to open for a big promotion on Labour day only, with the pretext of helping the less fortunate. If a customer spends more than €100 he gets a 50% discount. Caos and confusion break out in a few stores across the country. Desperate to take advantage of the discount and faced with emptying shelves, people loot or buy what they can find, raising questions on the motives for the promotion. Is such a marketing strategy really intended to help the ones in need?

Published in Diário de Notícias, May 6, 2012.

The above were posted by André Carrilho, a very taleneted graphic artist, who is also socially aware. Here's my reaction:

If the customers buy using their own money, this promotion helps; otherwise, if it's credit money, the promotion helps only the banks!

The question remains: how is it possible that one can run such promotion? Are the profits so high? I doubt, but one should still think of this question.

At a different level, yet, this may well be a signal of the readjustment in progress: we'll have to work for much less.