NOTHING™
What
You've Been
Looking For!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
NOTHING™
|
Sign
up for updates
|
PROMOTIONAL
EVENTS FOR NOTHING™ 2002: THE PUBLIC LAUNCH OF NOTHING™ We publicly launched our revolutionary new product NOTHING™ on Black Friday, aka Buy Nothing Day, in November 2002. The first promotional event took place at Christiana Mall in New Castle County, Delaware.
As soon our sales
team entered
entered the mall with bags laden with containers full of NOTHING™
and labeled "FREE SAMPLES", shoppers eagerly swarmed around
us. The free samples of NOTHING™ ignited many smiles and laughs among
customers and seemed to satisfy a product niche before unavailable at
the mall. For example, one man was elated upon discovering our product,
saying "This is what I've been telling my wife for years that I want
for Christmas and she never listens!" and proceeded to bring his
wife over to share his excitement.
Since NOTHING™ was so successfully received by shoppers at the Christiana Mall in 2002, we decided to continue our product promotion there in November 2003. Like the year before, NOTHING™ continued to amuse shoppers. Unfortunately, the mall was once again peeved and once again summoned the state police, who ordered us to put our flyers in the car, but allowed us to remain with our samples of NOTHING™ on mall premises.
And as in previous
years, we were stopped inside by mall security, and this time accused
of "soliciting a reaction from people." State police were soon
summoned. They initially said that we could stay as long as we got rid
of our bags labeled "Free Samples," but soon changed their story
and said we had to leave the mall entirely. As we were being accompanied
out of the mall by police, the allure of "free samples" was
so strong that people were still coming up to us for them despite the
heavy police presence. We were taken to a mall exit far from our car,
so we had to walk around to the parking lot on the other side. Before
we started walking, a woman who had seen us get kicked out of the mall
came up to inquire what all the fuss was about. We explained and she was
supportive. Then a police officer came up to us and informed us that we
had to leave the mall immediately and should not dawdle, so we began to
walk around the mall to our car. We were about half way there when two
police vehicles drove up in front of our three sales team members, jumped
out and arrested them, along with a videographer with a public access
TV station. All were charged with criminal trespassing and banned from
the mall for six months. The Delaware ACLU
found a lawyer, Sidney Balick, to defend our sales team pro bono in court.
A non-jury trial on April 4, 2005 was scheduled. When the defendants showed
up in court, the state prosecutor said that she was under the impression
that the trial was another day and was not prepared to go to trial that
day. The judge dismissed the case for failure to prosecute. Shortly after,
the state filed a motion to reconsider the dismissal of the case. Our
sales team's lawyer filed an argument against doing so. The judge ultimately
decided against reopening the case. More
Photos of the 2004 NOTHING™ Promotion>>
On Friday, November 25, 2005, a six-person NOTHING™ sales team, including Santa himself, went back to the Christiana Mall for the fourth year in a row, accompanied by several observers and news reporters.
As it entered the mall through one of the Macy's entrances, someone in the sales team overheard a Macy's employee mutter, "They're here! I need to call mall security." In the main mall thruway, several shoppers eagerly approached for a free samples. Within ten minutes,
a young man came forward and said, "You can't stay here. You must
leave now!" He refused to identify himself, nor explain on what basis
he was ordering us to leave the mall, and continued on like a broken record.
Our sales team continued on walking, and within several minutes we were
again stopped by the same man, along with another young man. Both men
again refused to identify themselves. One of the police
officers who had gathered nearby asked our sales team to approach him.
He was one with whom previous sales teams had negotiated to stay in the
mall before, so agreed, but when he led us to a door and motioned for
us to enter, we asked him to tell us whatever he needed to say right there
instead. "You're under arrest," he said, then proceeded to handcuff
and arrest all six of our sales team, then an observer who was just taking
notes, and led us down a private hallway to the police office. We were
fingerprinted, charged with criminal trespassing, and banned from the
mall for three years. More
Photos of the 2005 NOTHING™ Promotion >> |
