[klabb3]

Also worth noting: it was her second child so she “didn’t need to buy anything or search for information”. And the experiment was terminated (it appears - it’s a bit unclear) after 5 months.

Another interesting factoid mentioned:

> identifying a single pregnant woman is as valuable to data brokers as knowing the age, gender, and location of more than two hundred non-pregnant people, because of how much stuff new parents tend to buy

[beerandt]

I don't remember the exact list, but it was 4-6 life events that are each potentially worth $100+ per person to marketers, and I think that was in ~1996 dollars.

Iirc:

College graduation/ first real job, Wedding, first home purchase, first kid on the way, retirement filed-for, and ??? I'm forgetting something. Maybe out-of-town move?

Related and overlapping: I suggest searching for the late 90s article on Target basically telling a teen that she was pregnant via direct mailers before she even knew. Dad over reacts then has to eat his accusation when they (Target) were right.

Based on non-typical purchase of un-scented lotion and 2-3 other undisclosed items.

I'm sure it's only gotten worse since then.

[irrational]

Wow, other than retirement, I’m glad I passed all those milestones in the before times.

[beerandt]

I wouldn't be so sure you did.

Idk how old you are, but part of the point is the 'before times' ended much earlier than most are aware.

The biggest lesson of the Target story (for the marketers) was don't let consumers know that the marketer knows so much about them.

Had they just sent diaper coupons mixed with generic ads, they might have been more successful. 'Congratulations You're Pregnant!' is what didn't work.