Monday, October 19, 2009

Ginger Ale, Ginger Shmale


A while ago I wrote a Brazilian soft drink company and recommended they bring back Ginger Ale. I did a little research and found out that they sold it brieftly in 1985. I heart Ginger Ale and was hoping they would take my suggestion and understand that I represent a large number of people who would love to be able to drink it here and not have to wait until they travel to get their hands on some. In a country that sells apple soda, and some other vomit inducing concoction that's a cross between cola and mate (a type of dark tea they drink in Brazil and Argentina), bringing back a favorite like ginger ale seems like money in the bank to me.

This is the reply I received from them:

Olá Flor,
Agradecemos o seu contato, ele é muito importante para nós!
Recebemos seu e-mail com atenção e carinho.
As sugestões são sempre bem vindas, porém já contamos com profissionais da área comercial que desenvolvem idéias para cada vez mais satisfazer nosso consumidores. Portanto, caso queira nos enviar sua idéia somente a título de conhecimento, ficaremos felizes em recebe-lá, mas esclarecemos que a Companhia não assume qualquer compromisso, seja ele comercial ou autoral.
Contamos com a sua compreensão.
Mantenha sempre contato. Estamos a sua inteira disposição.
Atenciosamente,
Ítala

This is the translation (not literal, I'll pass on what they were really trying to say):

Hi Flor, Thanks for contacting us. We received your suggestion but promptly discarded it because we know what we're doing and you don't. We have professionals who sit around all day and think up wonderful new products and we don't need suggestions from peons who don't know their grape soda from their orange soda. Just in case you were getting any fancy ideas, if we do decide to take your suggestion, we hold all the copyrights so you're screwed, sit on this. (ugly hand gesture) Write us anytime! Blah blah

Would it have killed them to stop at "Thank you for contacting us"? I mean, in the first place they left me no hope whatsoever that they were actually going to bring back my beloved soda by completely crushing and annihilating my dreams. Like a child in the sand box after the bullies have walked through and stomped on all my toys, I was left metaphorically curled up in the fetal position, sucking on my thumb, and whimpering for my mommy.

And secondly, I can't imagine why they have to add a disclaimer telling me I had no rights over my suggestion. In one breath they say they don't take suggestion because they're awesome, and with their very next breath they say: but if we do we owe you squat. Très bizzare.

The one positive is that they answered in 24 hrs, which is more than I can say for Coca-Cola, who after maybe 3 months has yet to reply. At this point I'm thinking no news is good news.

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