No, not a tale of uniform fetishes, but rather my amusement at the craftiness of the local Girl Guides (I think they're called Girl Scouts in the USA, to help our foreign readers. 
)
They had a girl stationed at the end of the supermarket checkout "to help bag your groceries for you". After my initial surprise at the presence of (more obvious than usual) child labour in the local Tesco, the shrewdness of the ploy became evident.
Firstly, the girl in question is too short and small to actually handle many of the bulky items, forcing you to chat and play with her while ostensibly going along with the charade of her bagging your groceries. Secondly, they clearly sent out the more photogenic and well-spoken young girls to do the bagging, encouraging rapport and play. Thirdly, they were well-trained to inform you of what they were raising money for in a charmingly childish way.
In short, you're a captive audience, held there for some time, in full sight of the world and it's impossible to walk away from the till without giving them some money. A marvellously ingenious way of their raising cash. I felt duty-bound to reward such a clever use of psychology in advertising.
And to move this thread on from mere anecdote to query:
What's the cleverest (or funniest) way someone managed to get you to part with money? Could be for charity or for a business, but must be ingenious!
)They had a girl stationed at the end of the supermarket checkout "to help bag your groceries for you". After my initial surprise at the presence of (more obvious than usual) child labour in the local Tesco, the shrewdness of the ploy became evident.
Firstly, the girl in question is too short and small to actually handle many of the bulky items, forcing you to chat and play with her while ostensibly going along with the charade of her bagging your groceries. Secondly, they clearly sent out the more photogenic and well-spoken young girls to do the bagging, encouraging rapport and play. Thirdly, they were well-trained to inform you of what they were raising money for in a charmingly childish way.
In short, you're a captive audience, held there for some time, in full sight of the world and it's impossible to walk away from the till without giving them some money. A marvellously ingenious way of their raising cash. I felt duty-bound to reward such a clever use of psychology in advertising.
And to move this thread on from mere anecdote to query:
What's the cleverest (or funniest) way someone managed to get you to part with money? Could be for charity or for a business, but must be ingenious!
