Now, for those unfamiliar: I shop at Amazon, a lot. Most everything I buy online comes from Amazon, as they have great prices on books, CDs, and DVDs. I’m also on one or two of their mailing lists, so I can catch a good deal every now and again.
This leads to interesting, wtf-tastic suggestions sometimes. This morning, I got an email from them that began like this:
We’ve noticed that customers who have purchased or rated The Sopranos - The Complete Fourth Season have also purchased I Am an Animal: The Story of Ingrid Newkirk and PETA on DVD.
I nearly did a spit-take upon reading that. Really? People who enjoy a TV show about people not being nice to anyone but themselves and their gang also enjoy the story of the president of an organization that uses less than savory tactics to spread the message “four legs good, two legs bad” across the nation? Really?
I started digging back through the older email I’ve retained from Amazon, and found these gems, as well:
- As someone who has purchased books by Ian McEwan or DVDs of dramas at Amazon.com, you might like to see exclusive content, film clips, and showtimes for “Atonement…” [Wow, that's pretty damned vague...]
- We’ve noticed that customers who have purchased or rated The Sopranos - The Complete Fourth Season or other films in the Television > General category have also purchased The Batman - The Complete Fourth Season (DC Comics Kids Collection). [I always KNEW Meadow Soprano was a superhero. Or maybe I just wanted to see her in a Wonder woman outfit...]
- As someone who has shopped for music, you might be interested in the Amazon exclusive video of Bruce Springsteen’s “Radio Nowhere…” [For one, that's damned vague; for two, that's arrogant. "If you like music, you'll like this." Really?]
Most of ‘em aren’t so bad as this, and some merely kinda make sense (As someone who owns The Empire Strikes Back or other movies with Carrie Fisher, you might like The Cougar Club!) but the above examples are worthy of a mild guffaw from me, especially as a guy who actually takes the time to let Amazon know what movies and books I have, and what I’m not interested in.
