[schoen]

I remember a reprint of a MAD Magazine issue from the 1960s or 1970s that was making fun of magazines' extravagant promotions to boost their circulation. The cartoon showed a magazine publisher personally visiting a non-renewing subscriber and offering him a serious of inducements to renew, culminating in the offer of the publisher's daughter's hand in marriage if the subscriber would agree to continue his subscription for another year.

In the punchline, the publisher said something to the effect of "and that's how we keep our subscription figures climbing!".