Another GW fail

[me_in_japan]

Yesyes, I know moaning about GW is sooooo last season, but I saw this and just thought it was a new low. GW newsletter in my inbox says words to the effect of: "hooray, hoorah, tis the season etc etc. Advent calendar countdown of stuff. 2 new things in the advent calendar every day until Christmas"

Hmmm. I thought. Let's have a look then...

Now, I dunno about you, but to my mind an advent calendar summons up images of happiness. Little happy Christmas pictures to bring joy a wee one's face. Maybe even a chocolate.

In GW land, an advent calendar is a chance to GOUGE MORE CASH! That's right kids, this Christmas GW are giving you, yes YOU the chance to BUY the rules for belakor for £2.50!

Yes. GW will charge you to look at their advent calendar.

By all means sell stuff as iBooks, but hijacking the spirit of Christmas with all this "advent calendar" bullshit? New low, GW. New low.

[Spevna]

Completely missing the point GW.

Well played good sirs, well played.

[AndrewGPaul]

Now, I dunno about you, but to my mind an advent calendar summons up images of happiness... Maybe even a chocolate.

Who started that tradition? Commercialised nonsense.

[Primarch]

Really? GW are trying to commercialize Christmas! Is that the best you can do? It must have been a tough weekend after all. We expect a far higher level of hatred from you.

It should also be pointed out that usually Advent Calendars aren't given away freely, you have to pay for them. With GWs calendar, you only pay for what you want.

Overall 2/10 - Try harder next time.

[Spevna]

The whole idea of opening an advent card window and finding something you can BUY is dumb. Trying to make people feel special about the opportunity to buy something is dumb.

[Primarch]

The whole idea of opening an advent card window and finding something you can BUY is dumb. Trying to make people feel special about the opportunity to buy something is dumb.

But HAVING to buy the windows (at a higher price than the things behind the window) in the first place is fine?
Would you rather pay GW to receive emails with free stuff in them?
You can't really knock a commercial business for trying to sell things, it's how they stay in business after all. Unlike high street stores which start putting Christmas stuff up in October, I think GW has been fairly decent about their marketing.

Personally I'm suprised that everyone missed the part where GW was selling what amounts to a single page of rules copy/pasted from an old White Dwarf for 2.50 GBP. Now, that's worthy of a gripe or two!

[Spevna]

Not knocking them for trying to sell things. I'm knocking the way they are going about it. Trying to make paying for something appear to be some kind of special treat is dumb.

"And what's behind this window boys and girls? Oooooo, shit in a pretty bag. Aren't you a lucky little snowflake!"

[me_in_japan]

Spev seems to have gotten the point of my post. To compare, certain other companies are, for their advent calendar style promotions, posting links to new pieces of artwork every day. This is fine. Yes, the artwork is worthless, but it's a nice gesture and it's free.

I honestly don't have a problem with GW selling a single page of rules for Belakor for £2.50. If folks wanna pay that then that's up to them. It's the whole "Here's a special Christmas treat" aspect of it that stinks.

But HAVING to buy the windows (at a higher price than the things behind the window) in the first place is fine?

Poor comparison. When you buy an advent calendar (with or without chocolates) you are paying for everything behind the windows at the same time. You also get, for your money, a happy child. The calendar builds suspense towards Christmas Day, and teaches the kid the value of patience and abstinence (advent being a period wherein one is supposed to abstain from sweets and treats, small calendar-chocolates being the token exception). The calendar itself is the product you pay for. GW are treating a Christmas tradition as a blatant marketing tool for their completely-unrelated-to-Christmas product. I say again: poor show.

[Primarch]

See, the way this looks to me is that you are saying:
Selling me an unhealthy product, wrapped in environmentally damaging materials and increasing my chocolate consumption four-fold, encourages abstinence and engenders the true meaning of Christmas, whereas sending a free email (which I voluntarily signed up for) and letting me know a product has just been released is an unforgivable sin on the part of the company sending the email.
Are GW exploiting Christmas to encourage customers to buy their products? Yes, of course they are. Are Cadburys doing exactly the same thing with their Advent Calendars? You bet your great aunt Jemimah they are. Be a good parent and spend money to buy your kids chocolate they wouldn't otherwise have had to show them that the advent period is all about not eating sweets! The chocolate makers are laughing all the way to the bank. This is probably their busiest time of year. Heck, I'm in Aeon as I type this and I can see several shops using Christmas merchandising to push sales.

All I'm saying is that there are better things for you to get worked up about than a company, any company, using a public holiday to drive sales. I'm sure that if GW didn't have a Christmas marketing campaign there would be people calling them out for that instead.
Hating on GW has become far to fashionable of late. Let it go, embrace the spirit of Christmas, and for pity's sake unsubscribe to their newsletter if you don't want to receive marketing information.

[Konrad]

What happened to my clever reply?
Oh well. Short version. GW
Who is up for some NuOrk? It's a total bargain. At GW prices, downloading it would run you nearly 500 pounds!