[pregnant_user]

I'm really surprised Target thought this was a good idea. I'm 7 weeks pregnant, and keeping it quiet enough that I made a fake account just to post this. Most women don't tell anyone outside of close family until the first trimester has passed, largely due to the number of things that could go wrong.

I'd find it creepy and invasive to get something physical in the mail with private medical information.

[JunkDNA]

If you aren't using something like Adblock, just wait until all the ad networks figure out you're pregnant. My wife was totally creeped out one day when she realized practically every site she visited was showing baby ads.

[jrockway]

I'd find it creepy and invasive to get something physical in the mail with private medical information.

It's not private medical information. It's an analysis of your public actions. All the coupons say is that many people that bought the things you did are pregnant. It doesn't say that you are pregnant.

[nostrademons]

If purchases are public, where can I get the data so I can build my map of the economy?

[yummyfajitas]

You can get the data by hanging out in target and watching what people buy.

On one occasion, some kid in a CVS gave me a high five after seeing me buying a mega-pack of condoms while carrying a bottle of whiskey. Did he violate my privacy?

[nswanberg]

You used to be able to get aggregated data for free at data.mint.com, but it looks like they have removed that feature.

http://www.mint.com/blog/updates/mint-opens-up-its-data-see-...

[unreal37]

You have a pocket full of credit cards, debit cards, and loyalty point cards. Every air mile you get is paid for by someone selling your purchase history to another company for marketing purposes.

It's not public for anyone to grab. You have to pay for access to the data. But if you can pay, you can get the data.

[nostrademons]

Data that can be had for a price, but not by anybody, is usually called "proprietary", not "public".

[brown9-2]

Of course they think it's a good idea - they have been able to trace a huge increase in sales to this promotion/mining program.

[etha]

The point is that it's not as private as you think it is.

[pregnant_user]

It's not that I think it would be difficult for almost anyone to figure out that I'm pregnant, it's incredibly obvious.

My point was that it is crass for a company to send an announcement like that to a woman in her first trimester. And crass in general to send out mailings targeting specific medical conditions. If I had bought hemorrhoid cream at target, I wouldn't want a mailing non-subtly directed at hemorrhoid sufferers showing up on my doorstep.

[sukuriant]

I don't think they would. I would suspect that Target doesn't consider pregnany to be a medical condition that someone is ashamed of. It's a huge change in a person's life. One that's usually celebrated; and, they want to be the store you go to for your pregnancy needs by hooking you in with advertisements.

Personally, I don't find a problem with this at all. It's a life status "pregnancy" and the later status "with children". It's about the same as if I bought a lot of sports gear, so Target started pre-emptively sending me coupons on new sporting equipment for the upcoming season, and telling me of late-seasons sales.

I gave them the information by purchasing there. I know I did, so ... I just can't see why this is bad in the general case.

[bishnu]

This is what happens when male marketing execs target female customers (no pun intended).