Free Money

Strategy: I did this assignment in the courtyard outside of the Marston Science Library. The people I targeted were those on their phones because I wanted to simulate what it would feel like interrupting customers in the real world. To get the conversation going, I will try to be friendly and greet them in a nice way before I start just jumping into the task of giving them a dollar. Then, to convince them to take the dollar, I said "are you willing to take this dollar and donate it to your favorite charity?" I thought this would be a good idea because it would seem more legitimate in the eyes of the customers instead of a random person handing them money. Then, even if they felt awkward, I thought that giving to a charity might compel them more to take the dollar. Out of the 5 people, I think 3 will take the dollar, and then the other 2 will probably say no just due to the awkwardness and the camera factor.

Videos:

Reflection: Out of the 5 attempts I had, 2 of them accepted the money (which are the videos above) and then 3 of them denied it. This assignment was definitely harder than I expected as I guessed 1 over the actual result because I thought most people would graciously accept $1. Then I realized that the delivery of the dollar definitely spooked people as well as an annoyance because I targeted people on their phones. Being videotaped definitely impacted the results as I expected though because I could tell people were more resistant once they saw the camera was videotaping them. My assumptions were generally right, but I just underestimated the impact it would have on someone taking a free $1 bill. I did think this was a creative and useful assignment because it gave me a real life lesson on selling as it's not as easy as it looks. It definitely humbled me into feeling the pain of others when I have to watch them try to sell their product or service with rude people.