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How Did Gillette Know It Was My Birthday??!

consumerist.com — "Corey was a bit freaked. He received a box in the mail containing a razor and shaving cream. The box said, 'Happy Birthday, from Gillette.'"

Who dugg this? Made popular Oct 10, 2006

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  • webguy2k, on 10/12/2007, -0/+91I got one of these on my 18th as well... except, mine wasn't the nice ones, mine was some crappy thing that I think I tried to use, then I upgraded to the quads when they came out...I didn't really care how they got my info, they sent me something without me filling anything out or having to pay for shipping.... I wish more companies would send me useful stuff like this...
  • NinjaBoy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+86Man all i got was to register for selective service.
  • slicedoranges, on 10/12/2007, -1/+68Shaving can leave scars if you're retarded.
  • ElliotShoe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+39I should proliferate my address and multiple birthdays on the internet so I can have a constant supply of razors for my hairless asian face.
  • thefoxtrot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+35i got mine after i registered for selective service.
  • pjack91, on 10/12/2007, -2/+37I got one a couple of years ago too.
    It said Happy Eighteenth, but it was my fourteenth birthday.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+35"... I then found out that shaving can leave scars... now I use an electric razor and never have to buy the blades again!"

    Do you not know how to shave?
  • aplardi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+31If you sign up for a Shop Rite, Acme, or Superfresh card the information gets to them. I've gotten them several times even under my fake names that I only use at Shop Rite.
  • JimXugle, on 10/12/2007, -12/+37I got one for my 18th birthday as well...

    Several years in advance.


    ... I then found out that shaving can leave scars... now I use an electric razor and never have to buy the blades again!
  • SrLnclt, on 10/12/2007, -2/+25Hate to tell you guys, but this is nothing new. They've been doing this for at least 7 years, and I'd guess much longer.
  • ActiveMatx, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20hope u changed the blades.
  • Bara, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19Yea, I got a Mach 3 Turbo for my birthday a year or two back... been using it since.
  • Daedalus81, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17Nope, but you are now Gilette's bitch for the rest of your shaving life!
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15I must be more paranoid than most as i never get the free junk.
    I dont even like junk mail addressed to "current resident" because they are assuming someone lives there and that is a bit more info than i would like them to have.
  • ekleinunt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13I'm fairly certain my school district sold my information.

    I got a Gillette razor and Playboy sent me a happy birthday trial offer on my 18th. A female friend of mine at the time got the exact same stuff a few weeks later. She was mistakenly listed as "male" on her final transcript. Moreover, she had not registered for Selective Service (obviously). Coinicidence... I think not.
  • merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13"now I use an electric razor and never have to buy the blades again!"

    Er, I've gone through several electric blades, and several entire electric razors. Sure, you don't have to buy 'em quite as often, but they still wear out, if you actually have a decent amount of beardage.
  • j10s, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12wait... theres a girl on digg?
  • bbene, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Both of my older brother's got one when they tuned 18. When my 18th came around, I was ready to get my free razor too. I never got one. Bastards.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11I also got one of these in the mail, it was pretty weird. It was right around the time the whole anthrax scare was going on. So I just threw it out, its not like shaving cream and razors was scarce at my house at the time.

    I wish Vivid would of sent me a free DVD on my 18th Birthday. That definitely would have been more fun than a razor . . .
  • homestar14, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12Yep, I got one a couple of weeks ago. Kind-of creepy.
  • oOLiquidNightOo, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15bah, i thought this was gillette from penn & teller.
  • Loyaleagle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10They say that it's ok because there is a pre-existing relationship so it's ok, but I recieved one of these 2 years ago on my 18th and I had never used or bought any Gilette product before.....

    then again, i really don't care one way or another....i like presents! ;)
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I got one years and years ago when I turned 18 as well. Since then I've converted to double edge razors. So much cheaper and cooler.
  • VeryAngryJim, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9All I could think when I recieved it was that I would be a Gillette man for life, such a clever way to market.
  • bassman730, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8this happened to me on my 18th birthday about 2 months ago
    freaked me out man
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Shaving her moustache and unibrow, i would guess...
  • dantidote, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7My 18th came and went... no razor for me, although I really dont need another. I already have a fusion power and like 16 replacement cartridges. Damn fine razor if you ask me.
  • SSnow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Haha, I totally got one of these on my 18th birthday too! Strange. I always thought it was my school as well.
  • KingMoses, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7He spells it with a "J."
  • mushoo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Pretty sad that the Gillete corp was the only one to remember my b-day.
  • TheDrunkMonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7For some reason they sent me two of them when I turned 18.
  • Shayer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6i got the same thing as well, cant complain about free stuff!
  • SpishackCola, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Same here. My friend gave the possibilty of selective service having something to do with it. Since you need to sign up for that before you turn 18.
  • victimofkratina, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I shave using the sharpest rock I can find in my backyard.
  • drgroove, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I too received a Gillette razor handle on my 18th birthday. I see it as an American rite of passage.

    Amusingly enough, I'm still using the very same razor handle that I was sent on my 18th b-day, and have purchased Gillette razor blades for it ever since receiving it. That's almost 1/2 my life using the very first razor handle... crazy, huh?
  • DDRSkata, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6They give it to you when you register for the selective services. I didn't register, but I got a card in the mail saying I'd been registered.
  • isleshocky77, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I got a Mach3 kit for my Birthday.. so did every other guy I knew. I really don't care how they got it. I've been using Gillette ever since. They got me as a consumer.

    Edit: After reading the article I figured I'd add on that before receiving the gift I had never bought a Gillette product.
  • greymaxcat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Where was this offer back in the 80s?
  • ElJefeGrande, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Don't look a gift horse in the mouth...
  • TeagueSterling, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I don't think they get a list of registers for the selective service. I received on my 18th birthday, but I didn't register till after my birthday.
  • Crizack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5You got a playboy to? Lucky mofo.
  • VioletArrows, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I should've kept mine. Instead I gave it to my dad. (I'm female and wasn't thinking at the time that it would work great on my legs).
  • Shroomie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I got one too, but it came like 4 months after my birthday.
  • Chmura, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I remember when I received my Mach3 with extra blades for my 18th b-day, I was suprised how they knew it was my birthday too, and I have never bought any gillette products before that.
  • NoodleGuy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I got something like this 10 years ago when I turned 18. It's the old give away the handle so you need to buy the blades trick. Ever notice that the handle is much cheaper than the blades? Much like Ink cartridges are so expensive but printers are so cheap?

    I'm not shocked that they get the information from an outside source. Is it also a coincidence that I started getting Credit Card Approval letters right around the time I turned 18? I doubt it. Big corporations have their ways of getting this information... They know more about you than you know about yourself. They know your credit history, they know what you are buying, they know your parent's credit rating, they know where you shop....
  • moechi82, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6This is so weird! We girls don't get any merchandise in the mail come our 18th bdays
  • estacado, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Actually Gillette implants RFID chips inside each package.
    http://www.boycottgillette.com/spychips.html
  • Bara, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4That's how they get you... the blades cost like $10 or something.
  • steve693, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4They send me that same 18th birthday gift. . .on my 17th birthday. =)
  • rnelsonee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yeah, I really don't think the Consumerist is right at all on this one. The whole "pre-existing relationship" does come into play for things like the Do Not Call Registry, but I'm pretty sure sending someone something in the mail, unsolicited, is perfectly legal. It's not like I have any business with any of the junk mailers that gave me a bunch of crap in the mail today.

    And it really is good marketing. Back in my day, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, they didn't have any of the Mach 3 crap, although they had just started on the enough-steel-to-have-a-war concept with the 2-bladed Excel that year (1995).

    Next time I get a razor though, it won't be Gilette. You ever see those ads where one blade 'picks up' a hair, and the other blade(s) cut it off? Yeah, they don't work like that. Gilette got sued for false advertising (and lost). So f them for making ***** up.
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