You may recall my recent frustration with Nielson Ratings
corp. They tried very hard to recruit me into there army of raters. I do not
watch TV. I only listen to the radio, and I have no desire to surrender my
privacy, in any account, to their electronic surveillance gizmo. I thought that
I conveyed this to them via multiple phone calls which they placed to follow up
on the cash that they sent me in the quest to buy my information back in May.
Then on Thursday I received another goddamn packet from them
with two more crisp $5 bills in it! Jesus Christ, already! I tore out the
money--I'm not that stupid--and then tossed the rest of it. I anticipated
another phone call. WRONG!
Knock on the door this afternoon, and there stands Steve
with a gift basket and wanting to follow up on my recent letter from Nielson. I
acknowledged that I had received it and told him that it really pissed me off.
I then explain why. And he said, well, Nielson has an auditor that grades them
on the depth of their demographic data base. Once they discover a person who
participates in polls and fits a needed weakness in any demographic sub-group,
they can be aggressive in their campaign to recruit them. OOOHHH.....now, I get
it. They need more gay men to use to disaggregate their data. He didn't say
that, but as he explained the situation to me, he purposefully glanced at my
rainbow flag hanging below my American flag over my front door--and I think I
can safely assume that Nielson already has enough Americans in there data ranks!
Needless-to-say, I didn't change my position. My homosexual
radio listening habits are both boring and NOT for sail. This after he offered
me another $200 to reconsider. Ultimately, He gave me his card and promised to
pass on my desire to end what is becoming mild harassment (and a petty cash
drain on Nielson, I should think) in regards to me. And I didn't get the gift
basket!
1 comment:
Phone calls don't get to the person who really matters. You have to send them a letter, preferably addressed to the CEO or Chairperson (or both). I guarantee that will stop the harassment. You could copy it to the local newspaper for even more dramatic an effect.
When I worked in market research no one would have thought of wooing a respondent in the way they're doing.
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