:: GussetBLOG ::

:: Tuesday, February 04, 2003 ::

I have just received the most ridiculous piece of Spam I’ve seen in months. (Except maybe that one that claimed to be a valid anti war petition you just had to write your name on and forward to everyone you know, then when it has 500 names on send it back to sucker@viralmarketing.com or something.) Anyway, this one is the classic “send this on to everyone you know and eventually the whole population will read it”, with some fundamentally flawed mathematics explained by the most patronising git to every explain a Fibonacci Series (and assume that not one person would send said mail to someone else who already has it). So if you haven’t seem this, enjoy:

>Subject: Petrol Prices - could it work?
>
>
>Hmmmm.... but thought you might be interested to see this anyway...
>
> We are going to hit close to 89p a litre by the summer. Want petrol
>prices
>to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. This makes
>MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy petrol on a certain day" campaign that
>was going around last April or May!
>
>The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't
>continue to "hurt" ourselves by refusing to buy petrol. It was more of
>an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them.
>
>BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can
>really work. Please read it and join in!
>
>By now you're probably thinking petrol priced at about 77p a litre is
>super cheap. Me too! It is currently 79p - 83p for regular unleaded in
>some towns. Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have
>conditioned us to think
>that the cost of a litre is CHEAP at 77p - 80p, we need to take aggressive
>action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace.... not sellers.
>With the price of petrol going up more each day, we consumers need to take
>action. The only way we are going to see the price of petrol come down is
>if
>we hit someone in the pocket by not purchasing their Petrol! And we can do
>that WITHOUT hurting ourselves
>
>How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying petrol,
>but we CAN have an impact on petrol prices if we all act together to
>force a price war. Here's the idea: For the rest of this year, DON'T
>purchase ANY petrol from the two biggest oil companies (which now are
>one), ESSO and BP. If they are not selling any petrol, they will be
>inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other
>companies will have to follow suit. But to have an impact, we need to
>reach literally millions of Esso and
>BP petrol buyers It's really simple to do!! Now, don't wimp out on me at
>this point...keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach
>millions of people!!
>
>I am sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you sends it
>to
>at
>least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)... and those 300 send it to at least ten
>more
>(300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth
>generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers! If
>those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then
>30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further,
>you guessed it.... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!
>
>Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all. (And
>not buy at ESSO/BP) If you don't understand how we can reach 300
>million and all you have to do is send this to 10 people.... well,
>let's face it, you just aren't a mathematician. But I am... so trust me
>on this one.)
>
>How long would all that take? If each of us sends this email out to ten
>more
>people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably
>be contacted within the next 8 days!! I'll bet you didn't think you and I
>had that much potential, did you! Acting together we can make a difference.
>If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on PLEASE HOLD OUT
>UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE 69p a LITRE RANGE! It's easy to make
>this happen. Just forward this email, and buy your petrol at Shell, Tesco,
>Sainsburys, Jet etc
>
>
>
>Boycott BP and Esso!!
>

PS: Also note how there is no plan to change who is boycotted to the current top two even if BP and Esso do drop there prices.

:: Dan 4.2.03 [Arc]    ::
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