Freebies and free stuff

EDIT: This is no longer available.

That’s it, after seeing this offer for a free Moon Pen, I think we need to start a petition here. From now on, no product is allowed to use the words “moon,” “galaxy,” or “space” in their product name unless the product comes from said universal reference. When I saw this free moon pen, I got all excited. SWEET! A pen that came from the moon. I expected some alien pen that was found on the surface of the moon, as if it was an ancient relic of a civilization that long ago abandoned our galaxy for unknown reasons and now all that was left of their once proud and dominant culture was this simple pen. Turns out this is just another bic pen. Dang, what a let down.

[via the forums]

The following text was taken from the Predictably / Irrational blog that is written by Dan Ariely. He’s recently written a book titled Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions and I thought the text below was really interesting in relation to our love for freebies. Something interesting to keep in mind and perspective.

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In one of our projects, Kristina Shampanier, Nina Mazar, and I examined whether our reaction to Free! is just a rational reaction to a low price (a very low price) or if it is an irrational overreaction to Free! We carried out a set of experiments in which we measured not only what people chose but also what they gave up in the process. By doing so we were able to show that Free! can tempt us so much that we are willing to forgo a really good deal for a mediocre one simply because it is Free! For now let’s skip the experiments and consider the following thought-experiment:

Consider how long you would be willing to stand in line for a free Ben & Jerry’s ice cream cone. Let’s assume that your answer is 20 minutes and that the cost of a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream cone is $1.45. Now answer this: would you be willing to stand in line for 20 minutes for $1.45 in cash? No way.

This is exactly what the experiments showed; when something is Free! we get excited and as a consequence we are willing to give up better deals – not to mention our time, money, etc.