You’re pregnant! How do you break the news? Some women buy baby balloons. If there’s a child already, they can put him or her in a big brother / big sister shirt. Some women actually bake buns and put them in the oven for their partner to find (I saw this somewhere. I never would have thought of it myself.)
I decided on “crying, sit down when I tell you this, oh my God, what are we going to do” approach, but I realize not everyone can be that romantic.
Or, you know, Target could accidentally spill the beans before you get around to telling anyone.
For the link-shy, basically, Target connects all purchases you make to your name and uses the information to determine what is going on in your life. They then send you coupons for things you might need based on your recent and overall purchases.
One of their biggest gains using this technique is the “baby on board” campaign, where they send pregnant women coupons for baby stuff. They’ve gone full-throttle, and as a reward, gained much of the baby market.
On the one hand, it’s brilliant. I love their ingenuity. On the other hand, it’s creepy. Really creepy.
Hospitals and doctors are required to keep medical confidentiality, patients sign HIPAA consent forms and have strict limits on who can access their files, and pregnancy is one of those medical issues that spans over the guardian – child relationship so that the child, if under 18, has the right not to inform her parents.
But Target can.
