Litter as marketing

When walking around Oakland, CA, it’s easy to dismiss all the small trash laying around the streets & sidewalks. I’m used to it — as I’m sure are most city-dwellers of big American cities. It occurred to me, that trash (bearing the brand’s stamp) works as decent marketing, whether these fast-food chains, grocery stores, etc. know it or not.

Taco Bell, the only fast-food beacon I still go to occasionally, offers hot-sauce packets with their name on them. And not unlike how a proud sycamore tree spreads its helicopter-like seeds, somehow, so does Taco Bell. Around Oakland, discarded hot-sauce packets are everywhere to be found.

Admittedly, this sticky aluminum trash, as polluting as it is, is effective marketing. I am a prospect for Taco Bell, and those rubbish packets are a constant reminder of their brand.

Trash that sticks around

I was at a beach over the weekend. From Oakland to the Pacific Ocean, it’s only a quick drive. Even though I had escaped town for a spell, I hadn’t escaped branded pieces of plastic. Lo, at the beach were oodles of Wendy’s, Volkswagen, Safeway, Coca-Cola plastic bits. It seems this stuff goes into the ocean, ungulates for a while & is regurgitated back to the shore to prey on prospects like me (not to mention other animals who gobble it up in a more primitive fashion). Indeed, litter can crusade for some long-lasting marketing.

Bits teaching lessons

Garbage is gross; obviously, it’s not a viable marketing tactic for brands. But it got me thinking in the abstract: start-ups can find a million ways for recognition outside of what’s conventional or even known.

The prospect’s mind is endlessly trying to adhere to things. If rubbish can have successful marketing side-effects, one should be loose with ideas in attracting newcomers to your doorstep.