Go Pick on Someone Else

Don’t bully consumers with overbearing ads. Such a hard-sell approach will just bring back unhappy childhood memories for them. That’s the moral we draw from a Zogby poll that asked adults to recall the experience (if any) they had with bullies when they were kids. Although just 10 percent said they were “often” targeted by bullies (see the chart), 62 percent answered “yes” when asked, “Was there ever a time in your childhood when you stood up to a bully even at the risk of physical harm to yourself?” This number alone suggests such incidents are more vivid than the many occurrences that loom large in childhood but fade as we grow up.