Why would humans want you to like their company? Lets say if they are a programmer, during corona, cant work on their normal dayjob - because something in project management went wrong, and now work on their designated day filler "jump the rope rabbit"?
Do they suffer from stockholm syndrom?
Have they eaten too much "the company is me, and I am company" PR?
I insist, that you missed the entire point.
Companies dont act like humans, every step they take - usually, and certainly in this case, they follow a written out cost/benefit analysis, NOT a 'favor for favor' social model. ('Gifts keep friendships'
)
Yet they highjack the human 'favor for favor' system, by first giving you a present (cost: 3000USD/downloadnumber (lets say 20 Mio)), on purpose (marketing department getting slot and greenlighting the release in the store), under a false premise (valuable, because time limited).
If you are just dumb, I cant help it. But the company does nothing of that because 'humans work there, that act human'.
Even more problematic, company uses the maybe 'real' impulse, of one of their workers to 'do something genuinely good', and transforms it into a tit for tat - marketing stunt. That costs them nothing, and brings them disproportionate returns (compared to cost), and good will.
The issue here is, that human social behavior systems arent created for "one to millions" interpersonal communications. So whenever you react "as if the other side was a person" you are exploited. By the marketing department. Knowing full well, that this is what they are paid to do.
Lets take the reverse case - you want something from a company. In what circumstances, do you think the company has the leeway to 'do you a favor'? Or put differently, how 'human' do you think the company acts, when you ask them for a favor. (The thing that behavioral system is actually built for. ("Why we give gifts" (aside from 'it just feeling good')) )
I'm not just giving you my opinion on this ('which I could be wrong about'), I'm saying, I've read marketing literature, this is what it describes as 'tools that work, and you should use'.
If in any case, in an interaction with a for profit company, you think of them as 'human' you are scamed.
They arent human in action, not in decision structures, and not in front of the law.
The cost benefit analysis on this 'gift' is not - lets do Bob a favor - but a reputation score, that cost you 0.001 cent per customer/user. Behavioral marketing is very cost effective, because it exploits human behavioral traits. (If a gift is offered, you take it.)
I insist, that this logic is correct.
There is nothing naive, and nothing - 'just goodwill' about Nintendo releasing a "time limited free game". You are wrong.
And if you are wrong like this on facebook every day, with other brands, we have a problem. (That facebook actually designed - because brands 'just look like humans' there, design wise..
= why social media marketing is also aimed to look 'personable')
(The same logic then has thousands of users, write to twitter support accounts, as if they were friends, asking them for 'a favor'. Marketing departments first laugh their asses off for a day seeing that, then design systems to 'tackle that' by paying as little as possible.
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