Fictional Customer’s Personal Data Released
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010Trendy discount airline of-the-moment Virgin America revealed the identities of their target customers, Jimmy Jetsetter and Sally Saver, in a request for proposal document sent out late last week to over 400 online publishers and networks. According to the documents, Jetsetter, 27, lives in Los Angeles, but travels frequently to New York and Las Vegas, where his $120,000 annual income allows him to hit the clubs with his friends, while Saver, 25, buys her organic groceries at Trader Joe’s instead of Whole Foods to save money for her twice-yearly vacations. The revelation has privacy advocates up in arms. ”I can’t believe they would release such personal info on their fictional customers like that,” said Helen Humorless of the Consumer Protection Agency. ”Just because they’re a gross generalization of audience segments meant to oversimplify things so marketers can convince themselves they understand them, doesn’t mean they don’t deserve their right to privacy. Virgin will be hearing from our lawyers at Larry Litigious & Associates.”