Think about the last time you wanted to make a quick purchase and the person in front of you whipped out their checkbook. Did you wince as they began the slow process of filling in all the information? Did a mild profanity escape your lips as they attempted to extract a driver's license from an inevitably uncooperative plastic compartment? What was once a perfectly normal form of payment has become an irritant to most of us—and Visa is perfectly happy to remind everyone of the fact.

In a post at MarketingProfs' Daily Fix blog, Jeanne Bliss draws attention to an ongoing campaign that none-too-subtly guilts consumers into using check cards. The main message of the extravagantly choreographed TV spots: Using cash or checks in a retail establishment will disrupt the progress of daily life and piss people off—in a big way.

This example takes aim at those who use cash. You might argue that a cash transaction isn't any slower than a debit transaction, but the annoyed faces in this cafeteria tell a different story. This one, meanwhile, holds up the more universally dreaded check-writer for criticism. Our naive protagonist catches on quickly, though, and ditches the checkbook for her check card as soon as she perceives the havoc she has just visited on the store's smooth operation.

"They're not using peanut butter and a bell to change our behavior as consumers," says Bliss, "but the latest Visa commercials sure have behavior modification in mind." And their deft use of Pavlovian techniques is pure Marketing Inspiration.

More Inspiration:
Seni Thomas: Harnessing the Wisdom of YOUR Crowds
Elaine Fogel: Marketing Communication Boo Boo's
Scott Monty: Organizing Our Digital Lives

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