Here’s a story I missed while on vacation last week: A tiny little town in Idaho in desperate need of money (and attention) has decided to be renamed to secretsanta.com. I shit you not. Can this be true? I wonder how long it will last. The story also mentions Half, OR being renamed to Half.com for a year back in 2000 (in exchange for $75,000), so it’s nothing new. Whose idea was this? Why, another marketing jerkwad, of course. Surprised?
But what happens if the actual secretsanta.com company goes out of business? The whole thing is a little disturbing; it reminds me of these dumb parents who took money from corporations to give their newborns names like Chevron and Pepsi (again, I shit you not). This shows how much power corporations have over people in this country. We’re willing to turn stadiums, towns, parks, and even babies into sleazy advertisements the moment some company waves money at us. Maybe the money will benefit this little village, but I’m willing to bet that their fortune will be fleeting…