Businesses are always finding new ways to attract new clients. As with anything else, some marketing strategies are more effective than others.
One Redditor went to r/mildlyinfuriating to post a photo of a bizarre promotion they found in their driveway.
Inside a resealable plastic sandwich bag full of rocks was a business card — a tactic that appeared to be used around the entire neighborhood.
"I understand wanting to make your business known, but business cards inside plastic bags?" the OP wrote in the caption, clearly baffled.
While it's unclear what type of business the card promoted, given the reactions, it appears to have been a truly wasted effort on several fronts.
The reason for doing this is likely to make it faster for the person delivering the business cards to throw them out a car window at each house they drive past. But it would also require a lot of time, effort, and investment to get out dozens or hundreds of plastic bags and fill each one with a business card and several clean rocks instead of stopping at each house and dropping the card off or knocking on the door. Another simple route would be mailing them, which may still be wasteful but not as much as the bizarre plastic bag method.
Unwanted ads create more trash, and plastic trash in particular has become a a huge concern. According to the UN, more than 330 million tons of plastic is produced yearly and only 9% is recycled, meaning most of it ends up in our landfills.
WWF reports that plastic can take hundreds of years to break down, shedding microplastics that end up everywhere — from our oceans to the inside of our bodies.
There are super easy ways to reduce plastic waste that save money in the long run. Avoid single-use plastics by investing in reusable grocery bags and water bottles. Switching to powdered detergent and soaps avoids plastic packaging while limiting exposure to toxic chemicals.
Plantable, recycled, digital, and other alternative business cards are an option if you're looking for ways to network that will keep our planet cooler.
Supporting companies that don't waste plastic is a great way to let your money speak and encourage other companies to adopt similar, eco-friendly policies.
Not surprisingly, most people found the post more than mildly infuriating.
"Just lets me know who not to call," one comment said.
Another rightfully wrote, "It's littering and dangerous."
"Return rock to sender," another insisted.
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