The following is an opinionated rant, and reading by sensitive individuals or minors is not recommended.
Headsets.com is giving out a free Plantronics Discovery 925 Bluetooth headset to anyone that has been ticketed (since July 1, 2008) for talking on a cellphone without a headset while driving. Well, anyone in this case is limited to the first 734 offenders.
Okay, why reward the folks who 1.) Are obviously sentient enough to use a computer and find out about the reward and 2.) still did not bother to use a headset. I bet they knew that the law was in effect when they were caught. They simply did not bother (or find the time) to start using a headset. Having one given to them will probably not change their basic behavior. Any hope of them showing their non-headphone wearing friends how it can be cool to wear a headset is dashed if they do not use one. So, if it does not help that much with advertising, why reward the offenders? No doubt some people will see news of this, and they will connect the dots between headsets.com and not getting tickets, but there could be some negative press from this as well. People don't always like the ideal of rewarding those who ignore local laws and ordinances AND get caught.
But perhaps this will catch on. Hardware stores can give crowbars to convicted burglars. Maybe they can get a specially endorsed model by a famous cat burglar and work a PR angle into it. With any luck maybe the word will spread.
Office supply warehouses could offer whiteout and calculators to embezzlers. Again, with a little branding you could get a lot of mileage out of such a campaign. Just imagine Oliver North being photographed with his branded Gold Plated Shredder at the reward ceremony.
But there is more. How about Bob Bondurant or Skip Barber having a free racing class to anyone who can present a valid speeding ticket? The deal is that it has to be at least 15 MPH over the limit. At least you might speed a little safer in the future (just not in school zones, no matter how low they drop the limit).
I don't know if the company will get a lot of publicity from the offer, but remember, if you live in an area where headsets are required and the person passing you are talking without one, they just might be playing the free headset lottery. After all, it is the company giving them out for free, so why shouldn't anyone that qualifies not take advantage of it?
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