I am not sure if it’s the low interest rates, or maybe just the fact that the petrol price hasn’t risen as much this month as it did the previous couple, but people clearly have way too much disposable income.
I don’t have statistics on how much money is being wasted on useless products and luxuries that only seem fit in a Beverly Hills mansion, but judging by the amount of marketing it is more than LIVE8 could only dream of giving to Africa. They say the biggest spends in the country are cell phones, the Lotto and casinos. Not surprisingly, more millionaires made more often, and I do mean the shareholders of the cellular networks.
There is a craze going on which is remarkable at playing on the gullibility of people with nothing better to do than watch free-to-air television late at night. There are services available right now that can help your love life, tell you past life details and even help you meet that “special” person for a hot night of passion, as soon as Will and Grace has finished of course. Not only are these services available, but they are also accessible from your favourite armchair, or comfortable equivalent.
SMS, it’s not quite the latest technology and definitely not the cheapest anymore. Premium rated numbers allow anyone from charity organisations to your common -bleep- peddler to make a commission off a text message sent to their pre-purchased phone number. Competitions I can understand, I can see the benefit in spending R1.50 to win a new mattress, besides it pays for administration costs and some advertising on the promoters part.
But, when it comes to intangible products, like ring-tones and astrology readings, suddenly R5 becomes a lot of money. The gullibility levels are high though, the number of companies providing these services is growing, and they can afford prime-time television advertising space – right after major financial institutions interestingly.
And they must be doing well, because the numbers of ads is only increasing, and at a higher rate that the likes of those famous brands that offer scores of free offers “if you call in the next hour”. I wonder how well the multitude of products are doing that offer flatter stomachs and tighter buns, all achieved through a miracle formula originally discovered by an ancient civilisation, conveniently left for us in manuscripts which have taken thousands of years to decipher.
It seems as if we, and by we I mean society excluding me, have the need to spend that little bit of extra cash every month on meaningless items. There are a handful of definite winners, like the television and cellular networks who take their own share of every deal and service offered.
Maybe it’s time to jump on the bandwagon, though, and make a bit of extra cash, how about weight loss via SMS, I have a strange feeling that it might just work.
Tags: fitness, money, sms, text.
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