Word: gimmick
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Some deposit-starved banks have long tried attracting new business with gifts like toasters and TV sets. But the latest gimmick is an improbable appeal to human friendship. Banks in New York, Chicago and St. Paul are now making their pitch to the potential customer's pals. "Bring a friend," advertises New York's Manufacturers Hanover Trust. If someone deposits $75,000 for 2½ years, his pal will collect a sponsor's fee of $2,343.75. The First National Bank of Chicago pays a finder $25 for each $1,000 deposited by a buddy into...
...Kalb, 50, away from CBS-but only after taking the questionable step of guaranteeing him a certain number of appearances on the nightly news each week. The network also announced that its Today Show would air ten "exclusive" interviews with Presidential Candidate John Anderson during the Republican Convention, a gimmick of dubious news value and fairness...
...shop steward's letter had termed, the University's original offer--voted down by the membership in March--of successive 10-, 9-, and 8-per-cent wage increases, "a public relations gimmick." Powers last week called the charge "ridiculous...
...Reagan tax increases helped set the stage for California's emotional Proposition 13 tax revolt in 1978, three years after he left office. As Governor he avoided taxpayer retaliation by turning to a politically popular gimmick. As budget surpluses grew because of his high taxes and the state's general prosperity, Reagan retained the heavy taxation but gave some of the unneeded revenues back to Californians as rebates and tax credits. The income tax rebate in 1970 was $91 million; a 20% income tax credit in 1972 totaled some $235 million; another rebate in 1973 added...
...again cleared for takeoff, the line was hit by a four-month strike of pilots, mechanics and stewardesses demanding higher pay. Since World finally got back in the air last January, an average of only 17% of its seats have been full. The airline decided that it needed some gimmick to win back the crowds and chose the $69.99 flight. But for all the carefully orchestrated hoopla, the cheap fare remains a gigantic gamble; just to break even, World must fill every single one of the 380 seats on each one of its twelve daily DC-10 flights...