View Full Version : Marketing gone bad
Scott Tichenor
Oct-21-2005, 8:46am
This article appeared in the Mercury News this morning. It's a subscription web newspaper but I'm posting the article here for all to see (yes, I'm violating copyright). This is too good. I'll likely regret posting this, but some marketing ideas are so bad they must be seen.
I agree that regular medical check-ups are an important part of a healthy lifestyle, but this mandolin playing gig is one someone else can have.
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With soft lights, music, get free health exams
By Julie Sevrens Lyons
Mercury News
Sparkling cider? Check. Mandolin player? Check. Rectal exams? Got those, too.
Officials from San Jose's Good Samaritan Hospital are daring to go where few medical centers have gone before, pairing free prostate or breast cancer screening exams with soft lights and refreshments.
Calling it their ``Make It a Date'' night, organizers are inviting people to bring along a loved one, neighbor or golf buddy Tuesday night.
``We make dates with each other all the time. `Let's go to a movie. Let's go to dinner,' '' said hospital spokeswoman Leslie Kelsay. ``But this is an important date for people to make.''
While a mandolinist plays in the lobby, men can undergo free (and private) rectal exams and PSA blood tests. Women can have a free breast exam.
Tests will be conducted from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Mission Oaks Medical Plaza, 15400 National Ave. in Los Gatos.
The romantic Carnelian Room it's not. But the hospital is hoping it will draw a big crowd anyway.
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This article appears online here (http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/living/health/12959437.htm?source=rss).
Jonathan James
Oct-21-2005, 8:47am
Wow, where do I sign up? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif
ShaneJ
Oct-21-2005, 8:52am
Might not be such a bad gig. There's nothing mentioned about the breast exams being private. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Give a whole new meaning to 'good right hand technique'...ouch!
If any of these male patients are getting a prostate biopsy (like I had), the mandolin player needs to play "Rawhide".
JEStanek
Oct-21-2005, 8:55am
Pickin' and Grimacin'
I couldn't possibly accept the gig. Hearing me play is already a pain in the...
I agree the buddy up and get checked out idea is great but not a date!
Jamie
Scotti Adams
Oct-21-2005, 8:55am
Alan..you beat me to that one...dang! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif
Harry H
Oct-21-2005, 9:03am
Okay, who has the gig?
Maybe the mando picker can do "Dark as a Dungeon"...oh, behave!
ShaneJ
Oct-21-2005, 9:18am
Alan, you're a sick man! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif ...but maybe not as sick as me...
How 'bout Back Up and Push, Get Up John, Man of Constant Sorrow, Clinch Mountain Backstep, Keep On The Sunny Side, and last but not least, Rank Stranger! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
ShaneJ
Oct-21-2005, 9:21am
A couple more.... Sweet Hour of Prayer, Mama Don't 'Low, Will The Circle Be Unbroken . http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif
Alan, you're a sick man! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif # ...but maybe not as sick as me...
How 'bout Back Up and Push, Get Up John, Man of Constant Sorrow, Clinch Mountain Backstep, Keep On The Sunny Side, and last but not least, Rank Stranger! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
Keith Erickson
Oct-21-2005, 9:39am
You know I am at a point in life where nothing really surprises me.
We are living in a world in which the reporting by CNN and the Weekly World News are one in the same.
...and people wonder why I watch less than 20 minutes of TV a week. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif
Lane Pryce
Oct-21-2005, 9:42am
If any of these male patients are getting a prostate biopsy (like I had), the mandolin player needs to play "Rawhide".
That scroll musta have hurt, huh? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif Lp
sick and twisted.
now that i have read this post and the responses, i am now associating my mando with being unpleasantly probed by a stranger. scott, you have ruined me. this is so painful. from now on, when i play my mando, i will be constantly on guard and looking behind me for someone in a white hospital coat, a face mask with the little light on the forehead, and a hand with one finger extended towards me inside brilliantly blue rubber gloves. halloween has come early! i guess i will have to always play sitting down now. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif
mandopete
Oct-21-2005, 9:56am
...and I thought this was a family show!
The first time I met my new doctor was also the first time I had "the test." My doctor said "It's a heck of way for two guys to meet, huh?"
mandolin would've just made it stranger :-0
siren_20
Oct-21-2005, 10:02am
Obligatory crude post about soundholes on non-F style instruments. You know where this is going...
Coy Wylie
Oct-21-2005, 10:05am
I'd rather be in some dark hollow where the sun don't never shine...
ShaneJ
Oct-21-2005, 10:11am
You reckon Scott regrets the post yet? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Joe F
Oct-21-2005, 10:11am
I'm sitting with my back to the wall at all future jams.
Scott Tichenor
Oct-21-2005, 10:33am
You reckon Scott regrets the post yet? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Sort of.
The problem with these is the continued "one up" (pardon the pun) until something has to go too far to be funny. In a world of weird gigs, this just would have to be one. My least favorite thing at gigs is having people come up and ask for directions or instructions on something while you're playing. I can just hear some poor old elderly guy coming up at this gig to the mandolin player and saying...
eh, you get it.
And with that folks. Time to move onto something else. Have a great weekend!