#FF Friday's Fabulous Finds: Free Psychology Classes, Books, & Excuses to Give

Thought for the Day: This week, the blog looked at the psychology of free offers (Why We Have a Love/Hate Relationship with Free Offers, Psychology Trivia, Steve Jobs on Time, Money & Free Offers). We did this in preparation for our Amazon.com free e-book giveaway of The Wake Up and Dream Challenge, by Dr. Barbara Lavi. The book teaches how to go out & capture your dreams. Often on Fridays we share fabulous finds that tell stories of people giving to others, but this week, in addition to stories about giving, we found some ways for you to capture free giveaways.

Patricia Celan, Miss B.C. Pageant Contestant
Our  first find from the The Huffington Post B.C (July 6, 2013) includes a video that shows a gift you would never expect at a beauty pageant. Immediately after beauty queens are crowned they usually walk up & down an aisle waving to fans smiling & wiping tears of joy. However, Patricia Celan who had just won the Miss B.C. Pageant did something surprisingly different to help others. See the pictures, which reveal the true inner beauty this woman portrays as she gives to a cause close to her heart.  Click here to see what she did...

Giving Blood, Giving Life By Brian Boyle  July 10, 2013
Have you ever found yourself making an excuse for why you can’t donate blood? You don’t have the time, or it makes you feel queasy. How about making excuses to donate? Here are two.

9 Free Online Psychology Classes By: David Arney
Have you ever wanted to take a psychology class at MIT, Yale or Berkeley? Would you like to learn about the psychology of happiness, new views of depression, abnormal psychology, gender differences or problems of communication? Did you ever think you could take classes like these for free? With the magic of modern technology & the generosity of many major universities, you can! Read more about these free offerings & go for it....

15 Web Sites for Finding Deals Online From Kiplinger By Cameron Huddleston,  May 2012
Ever wonder where you can find the best deals online? This easy-to-use guide can be your savior. Find the 15 best websites to shop for deals on the internet, sorted into categories for simple use.

Now, for a more personal giveaway opportunity that will definitely come in handy for those long summer days lounging at the beach. Every day, e-books are given away free on Amazon (www.amazon.com). By simply logging online here, you can download countless books in minutes, ready to read just by connecting to the internet. You don’t have to own a kindle or a nook, you can download these books onto your computer for FREE! Check back daily to get some free books, & be sure to view The Wake Up and Dream Challenge. Free e-book promotions change daily & don’t last forever, but they are a great way to find summer reads. The Wake Up and Dream Challenge will be available for free in the next couple weeks.We will let you know in advance so that you can grab & copy & share it with your friends. More details will be announced soon!

Thanks to Dream Team Steph for helping find & prepare this post! Have a great weekend!



Photo from Creative Commons on Flickr.com
http-/www.flickr.com/photos/45581782@N00/10211590

Thursday's Psychology Trivia Answer: Beer, Coke, Burma Shave & Free Offers

Thought for the Day: As a psychologist, I never thought I would be writing about beer, Coca Cola or Burma Shave advertising on my blog, but here goes! The last thing I want to promote since I help people recover from alcoholism is a beer company. However, the answer to the trivia question,
"Was Burma Shave, Coca Cola or the Anheuser Busch the 1st company to use free giveaways to promote their products?" is Anheuser Busch. Adolphus Busch was a savvy marketer who began giveaways in the 1880's. Technically speaking however, Coca Cola may have been the 1st to give coupons for sample tastings of their new product around 1893.

Burma Shave 's sign campaign came much later; however, you may enjoy the story of how they made good on their promise to send a fan to Mars when they turned in 900 empty jars of Burma Shave. I promise I will not make Burma Shave's mistake & offer you something that I will have difficulty proviing. I know my book will live up to all of your expectations. So get ready for the opportunity to grab a copy of my e-Book version of The Wake Up and Dream Challenge soon!


Here's the history of free giveaway campaigns:
According to Wikipedia, Anheuser Busch was the 1st to use a giveaway campaign starting in the 1880's & early 1890s, "Busch introduced a series of advertisements & marketing giveaways for the company, including bottle openers, calendars, corkscrews, pocketknives, postcards, & prints.^[16]  Adolphus Busch pioneered the advertising technique known as the giveaway – inexpensive items like match safes or cork pulls that featured the Anheuser-Busch name or logo. The most well-known piece, the pocketknife, was used by Adolphus in place of a calling card and featured a peephole with his portrait."

Coca Cola which was 1st created in 1887 may have been the first to use couponing to give people free samples of the beverage. On a post of the Coca Cola Timeline, these promotions somewhere between 1893 & 1904. Coupons were considered an innovative tactic back then. The couponing was followed by newspaper ads & the distribution of promotional items bearing the Coca-Cola script to participating pharmacies.
 The first Burma Shave signs were put up in 1925. They remained as American landmarks until about 1963. Originally the signs did not rhyme, but were made up of four signs, each said something about the product. Travelers began requesting for the product after seeing the funny lines on the road. Sales went through the roof, & signs spread from Minnesota to the surrounding states. The company was virtually unaffected by the Great Depression due to their uplifting advertisements! 

They were not the first to make free offers, however, the sign I remember most from when I was a child was: "Free Free, a Trip to Mars, With 900, Empty Jars of BurmaShave." In a great article called, How Burma Shave Sent Frenchie to Mars,  by Cory Doctorow, I learned that this jingle was first posted in 1958. Burma Shave never expected anyone to take them seriously & send in 900 jars, but one creative druggist took them up on the offer. To collect the jars, he placed an ad & offered to pay $ 0.15 per jar (see ad below) & collected 900 jars. Imagine the reaction when he wrote to Burma Shave & asked them where to send the jars!! Burma Shave quickly found a solution to the embarrassing dilemma. Since they could not send him to Mars, they offered to send him to Moers (pronounced Mars) Germany if he would wear a space suit. He agreed & went to Mars!
I hope you liked this journey down the trivia of the psychology of advertising lane.


Photo credits:
Send Frenchie to Mars: http://boingboing.net/2010/07/21/how-burma-shave-sent.html

Wikipedia Commons
Anheuser busch Logo: A&Eagle.png
Early Coca Cola ad:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cocacola-5cents-1900_edit1.jpg