Balderdash from the world of sales #2

Pulling emotional triggers in sales are becoming more prevalent and it's something to watch for when corporations are trying to get your money or attention.

Some of these guys will stop at nothin' to get you blubbin'.  

If you have been in any sales role ever, you may well have seen the short film about  Johnny the Bagger.  It's an inspirational customer service film available on you tube.   It's actually from an organisation that does sales presentations to American companies.

It tells the story of a young man who, inspired by a sales presentation about going the extra mile,  slipped his own  "thought for the day" notes inside the bags of shoppers as he packed their shopping in the supermarket where he worked.    Apparently, this initiative led to huge queues of people at the checkout counter where he was.    You see, they all wanted his note in their bag.

I saw this film, once again, a few months ago at a sales conference.    I say "once again" because I have somehow contrived to see this clip at least 6 times in my working life.
Johnny the Bagger has Down Syndrome.    As the producers of the video well know, this information changes everything.      

There is troubling stuff going on here on a couple of levels.    Like many with Down Syndrome, it sounds like Johnny takes on information very sincerely and is eager to please.   He was inspired by the sales presentation so much that he has taken the initiative to write these notes in his spare time.

The store manager seems to enjoy that he has someone doing a whole lot of unpaid work, bringing in all these customers - he tells the sales presenter how successful it's been, who in turn takes the credit for inspiring Johnny in the first place.   And now she is all over the Internet and conferences, sharing the story.   The DVD package costs $995 USD.  

So who is this exceptional young man who changed the culture of this supermarket?   Johnny himself remains an enigma.   We are assured that Johnny is a real person and the supermarket is real.   So why is the supermarket so coy?   It would only take the briefest of explanations.

Each time I see it ask myself (and now you) whether this is a horrible example of exploitation of someone with Down Syndrome, or Down Syndrome itself, or is it just a load of old cobblers?  

The video might be sincere, straight-up Truth.   But it doesn't come across that way.   The real people, talking to camera, would be 100 times more effective.   Why didn't they do that?  

In conclusion, this is balderdash because it has an overbearing whiff of something not-quite-right.   Without the pulling of so many emotional triggers, that fact would be rather too obvious.