Falling for Free

It seemed too good to be true when I saw it on Facebook yesterday. A post, apparently from Pepsi-Cola, saying that in celebration of its 100th anniversary, it would give a mini cooler, a gift card, and Pepsi products to anyone who shared and commented on this post. It was the quality of the cooler that made me skeptical. It wasn't one of those little vinyl coolers but a metal mini-refrigerator, freestanding, quite nice. I didn't give it much thought as I scrolled on by. Saw two more this morning. One purported to be from Hyundai, saying that one person, of all the people who shared and commented on its post, would win a new car. That seemed more realistic. One chance to win. It still seemed unlikely. Not five minutes later, a similar post from Little Caesar's, promising free pizza to everyone who shared and commented. It seems that this is the latest marketing technique. No one will win anything by sharing these posts except the companies, who will get lots of free advertising. Why are we so quick to accept the idea of something for nothing? Not much these days is truly free. Occasionally, a retailer will offer a buy one, get one free deal, but it seldom nets more than a frozen dinner or a canister of cooking spray. Yet when we come across such offers online, we tend to fall for them much more readily. In the early days of Facebook, a persistent post said that Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, would give money to anyone who shared the post. What possible motivation could he have for doing that? Microsoft was already a behemoth, dominating the computer industry. Maybe it's because so little is truly free. The scarcity is what tempts us. The worst that is likely to happen in sharing a Facebook post is that the organization gets advertising spread all over Facebook. But too often the offer of something for nothing is a scam. We're told something is free, then asked to pay shipping and handling fees. If it escalates, a scammer is draining our bank accounts, often from the other side of the world. I suspect that I will see more similar posts before this particular fad dies down. It's a little disappointing to see how many people appear to be falling for it. Incidentally, Pepsi is a lot more than 100 years old, having made its debut in 1893 as Brad's Drink, invented by Caleb Bradham, a druggist in Wilmington, North Carolina.