Today I was shown a post on Facebook talking about a 3-pack of onions that was bought from an Aldi store.
The post (below) had two photos which showed a hand drawn image of a hand flicking the middle finger.
The woman who posted it is from the US and she says she saw it in one of the groups she was a member of.
I can’t tell whether it was from an Aldi store in the US, the UK, or anywhere in the world, but what I do know is this…
People are talking about it on social media and people are saying that they are going to their local Aldi to see if they can find it too.
In this day of social media viral marketing, I cannot help wondering if this was done intentionally to get people talking about Aldi.
You just never know.
I mean, the woman who shared it is a business woman from what I can see and she did say that she saw it in one of the groups she was a member of.
Does that group actually exist?
I can’t imagine that anyone would actually ask her to prove that it came from a group because there is no need to know that information. It could simply be a bit of storytelling and misdirection.
Aldi spend a small fortune on doing television, radio, and online advertising and so they may not be behind this, but they have been known to do online viral stunts in the past because these kinds of posts can do a lot of good for a company.
When something is shared from a 3rd party it can have a completely different effect to paid advertising from the actual company.
It’s also possible that someone in the store, either a customer or a shop assistant, drew the image for fun.
Whoever and for whatever reason they did it, it has caused a bit of an online stir causing a lot of people to talk about Aldi, which is 100% free advertising.
It is an ‘offensive’ hand gesture, but it’s not too offensive. It could have been far worse.
This hand drawn image sits nicely in the sweet spot where it is offensive enough to be fun, but not too outrageously offensive to cause mass public upset.
So, the question is… who did it?
Was it done by one person who thought it would be funny, or was it sanctioned by Aldi itself as part of a ‘3rd party’ online viral marketing campaign?
We’ll probably never know.
These things do happen. This is nothing new.
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Many years ago British newspapers reported the amazing story about how a child used his dad’s credit card to book a flight – to the US, if I remember correctly – and managed to leave the UK before anyone realised he was gone.
The story was a little bit sensational, I mean, how did a child under the age of 13 manage to get through security and board a plane to the US alone?
Much of it didn’t ring true, but people’s disbelief was suspended because it was published in many of the major news papers which people (at that time) held in high regard and trusted them to print truthful stuff.
Also, I think this was before the 2001 9/11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers and so airport security was a lot less strict back then.
Anyway, the sensational story that sounded too good to be true was too good to be true because it wasn’t.
It was a story conceived by a marketing agency working for a credit card company.
I’m not sure what the message was that they were trying to get across.
Maybe they wanted to say that using their credit card was so simple even a child could do it.
Whatever the message was, it had people talking.
News papers were syndicating the story, it was reported on television, and people were sharing it in emails and on online message boards and forums (pre social media era).
When people are talking about your company or product… it will lead to sales.
There’s some evidence to show that even when people publicly complain about bad service or a bad experience (genuine or perceived) it can have a positive effect and lead to an increase in sales.
It just depends on how bad the service or experience was.
When the majority of people are talking about you, it means that they are not talking so much about your competition.
You don’t need to be the best at what you do, either.
A perfect example of this would be the local car garage that sponsors several local sports teams and competitions.
The company’s name is seen by players, competitors, and people watching.
When the owner hands out awards and trophies to the winners, their name is called out when they go on stage.
The people in the audience get to see them and learn who they are.
When the people in the audience have car issues and need to take it to a garage, they already know the name of a local garage without having to look them up.
It makes it a lot easier to find their details when you already know their name, and probably have the company details on competition and team flyers, calendars, and paperwork.
Now, imagine that there is another local garage that does a better job, is often faster and cheaper than the other garage.
They will need to work triply hard to find customers because their name is not being seen or talked about by as many people on a regular basis.
The person who is talked about the most will more-often-than-not beat the person who isn’t talked about much.
It’s just the way it is.
And so with that in mind, if you have a business, no matter what industry you are in or what products you sell, you need people to know who you are and to be talking about you more than your competition.
And if you can do it by creating a ‘fun buzz’ perceived to be from a 3rd party, more the better.
If you are someone who doesn’t have a business and is not interested in trying to get people talking about them, and just want a simple way to make money… read on.
There are many ways today where you can make money using just your smartphone or tablet.
A perfect example of this would be betting on football.
Betting may sound scary for some people, but our good friend Stephen Lewis, he bags himself between £380 and £725 each week betting on specific football games.
For those living here in the UK, those earnings are TAX FREE.
You can use a laptop if you prefer but you but it can just as easily be done on a smartphone or tablet.
Stephen’s Kamikaze System is a super simple system which pays him a decent amount of money each month in return for the little amount of work he does.
The work involved requires nothing more than picking potential winning teams and then placing bets.
Here’s why he wins more money than most people… he picks teams that are likely to win… that are not considered to be the favourites by most people.
To pick his winning selections, Stephen visits 1 free website, looks at 3 tables, and compares 4 numbers.
That’s it!
Some quick and basic arithmetic using a calculator gives Stephen a list of teams that he can back… at higher odds than those given to the favourites that the majority back.
Which means one thing… you win more money.
In one example Stephen made £141.32 backing ‘no hopers’. These were teams which everyone else expected to lose.
Out of a selection of 9 teams, he had a 56% win rate… but because of the HIGHER odds, he was able to make a £141.32 profit on the day… that is after any losses had been accounted for.
Had he traded those same games betting on the strong favourites, Stephen would have just broke even…
But he didn’t, he won £141.32 because he chose to back the expected losers… although HE expected them to win… which they did.
If you would like to know more about Stephen’s incredibly simple system where he makes guaranteed profits by simply taking a quick look at 3 tables and comparing 4 numbers, go to:
The Kamikaze System
Kind Regards
John Harrison
PS… Stephen also uses a little known button in Betfair which locks in profit taking away any need to sit and monitor the game he is trading.
This is a safety switch which means that should the team that everyone expects to lose, does actually lose, Stephen still walks away with a profit.
Very few people know about or use this button. I didn’t know about it until I was told.
When he clicks the button and sets up his profit lock, he is free to completely forget about the game.
Thanks to that button, his trading becomes a SET and FORGET system.
Here is that link again: