Iron Butterflies While the country held its breath over the fate of the presidency and our subsequent way of life last fall, some direct marketers couldn’t resist seizing on the national obsession to further their own purposes.
As you may recall, one of the major sticking points about the disputed election results from Florida was the so-called butterfly ballot. Voters in Palm Beach County were so confused by them that they allegedly voted for the wrong candidates.
New York-based AGA Catalog Marketing & Design thought the ballot’s design would instantly grab the attention of prospects. So it sent out a 5-inch-by-7-inch post card that sported a picture of one, along with the copy: “Is poor design affecting your results?” The card directed readers to AGA’s Web site (www.aganet.com).
Design affects “the very democratic process on which our nation was founded,” says Andy Russell, AGA’s CEO.
Meanwhile, online bookseller Amazon.com decided to recreate its store directory to look exactly like the controversial voting forms.
But the company chickened out after one day. It redirected the link that originally sent users to this spoof page to the Elections 2000 section of its online bookstore.
Amazon.com spokesman Bill Curry justified his firm’s actions. He was quoted as saying, “We just wanted to show the importance of a good user interface.”
What about the importance of a good polling place?
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