Today’s Hall of Shame Nomination
Amazon has a knack for rubbing me the wrong way with their book-buying suggestions that they send to me via email based upon past purchases. Mary Greer, for those of you who don’t know, is a well-known Tarot writer.
( We could have a whole other discussion on whether or not Tarot should be a tool used in Pagan Therapy. I enjoy it on the side, but don’t use it professionally myself, preferring instead to stick closer to what I learned in graduate school.)
Anyway, here’s Amazon’s email — anyone else see a problem with this?
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Dear Amazon.com Customer,
We’ve noticed that customers who have purchased or rated books by Mary Greer have also purchased Devil-Worship in France (Large Print Edition): or The Question of Lucifer by Arthur Edward Waite. For this reason, you might like to know that Devil-Worship in France (Large Print Edition): or The Question of Lucifer is now available. You can order yours for just $14.99 by following the link below.
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Beth Owls Daughter said,
December 9, 2007 @ 11:50 am
Yuck!
I absolutely agree; I hate the way they intrude in the first place with their thinly disguised ads. I can see how the logic must have worked, that they are hawking a book by Tarot creator A.E. Waite, who Mary has also written about. But of all the many possibilities, what a lame-brained one!
It is pretty disgusting and just heaps more injury and insult upon us all: Pagans and Tarotists.
— Beth
Rebeca said,
December 10, 2007 @ 10:58 am
I don’t think see what the problem with this is. There are no assumptions being made here, other than that you might be interested in the same kinds of books as other people who have bought some of the same books you have. These e-mails are based on sales histories, not social/cultural prejudices, and are automatically sent by a computer based on an established algorithm.
If people have a problem with the way that Amazon handles its marketing, they might want to consider not buying from Amazon anymore. There’s no need to fan the flames of paranoia and/or righteous indignation … that causes far more harm than some computer-generated marketing e-mail.
Rebeca