Based on a MeFi thread, a couple of months ago I signed up for free subscriptions to Maxim and Stuff. Amusing but not very readable–have no doubt that I am only interested in the photographs–so I used a made up name for their subscription rolls. Tom Stevens likes these kinds of magazines, I don’t. There were assurances that these subscriptions were given only to bulk up the audited numbers they use to sell ad space and no third party marketing would be sent.
A bald faced lie, apparently, as Mr. Stevens has received his first piece of junk mail. Paper, not email, since I gave a completely useless email address at least. Chase Manhattan Bank thinks that Tom needs a credit card. Simple enough, everyone needs more of those, but for some reason Chase thinks a special credit card personalized with a photo of Tom’s own pet would make him enthusiastic about a new piece of plastic.
So I think this could be very amusing, akin to the old stories about family pets getting onto marketing lists, and we’ll be following the companies who want Stevens as a customer on his own page: Selling Tom Stevens.
BillSaysThis 