Worst solicitation ever?

[eclectic_boy]

I just got an email requesting a contribution to the Obama campaign. Nothing unusual about that. But here's the entire email - you'll probably see why I reinspected it carefully to make sure it wasn't a fraud using link-misdirection:

Subject: Hey

Jim --
I need you with me on this one.
Tonight's deadline is our biggest yet, and I need everyone pitching in.
Give $20 or whatever you can: htt[etc]/Today
Let's go,
Barack


That's the entire email, not even a graphic (beyond a "Paid for by Obama for America" disclaimer). No explanation of the deadline or the goal. It's a tiny step above "You! Send me money!", and it certainly decreases my likelihood of contributing in the near future.

Comments

[amyprime.livejournal.com]

Idunno, I've gotten plenty of other emails about what the deadline is, and I mostly don't read them. This cuts to the chase, no heartfelt stories, no cheap giveaways. Worked on me.

[jaipur.livejournal.com]

wow, that is just weird...

[wayman.livejournal.com]

The best phonebanking volunteer in all of West Philly was a guy named Jimmy who came in all day, every day, and made at least 400 phone calls a day. He was homeless and happy to help and get to eat all he could eat of the vast quantities of food donated to the office for staff and volunteers. He never used our phonebanking script. Maybe he couldn't read. Maybe he just knew how to say what people in some neighborhoods of Philadelphia needed to hear. He made calls, and he got results.

Hey-yo, dis Jimmy wid da Obanda Agency. Obanda! He runnin' for pres'dint. I jes' wa' know, are you wid us? (and if they said yes, he told them where to find us in their neighborhood, and that was that, on to the next call)

Granted, Jimmy was genuine. In one way of looking at it, that's a huge difference. But ... I suspect that casual, emotional, and direct gets results, whether it's genuine or not.

As for what "tonight's deadline is", it's almost certainly the end of the financial reporting period Jan-Mar 2012. There's always a push for donations at the end of a quarter, because those numbers are the big headline sometime during the next week.

[uncleamos]

Late summer, 2000. My little brother, aged 12.

*ring ring*
"Hello?"
...
*click*
"It was Al Gore again!"