Seminars Targeting Elderly People with Assets

I saw an advertisement for a finance-related seminar in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. Using celebrities as the face of the ad, they have lined up interesting, catchy titles that tickle one's desire for knowledge.

Although I frequently gather information on the web, I started to feel moved to try listening to a lecture in person and in real-time.

◇

As a businessman who has been involved in organizing, planning, and executing seminars as part of my work, I looked at this advertisement from the organizer's perspective.

From the organizer's point of view, what are the objectives? Who is the target? What are the deliverables?

When I re-read the advertisement from that perspective: the advertising medium is the Asahi Shimbun, the schedule is on a weekday afternoon, and applications are only by postcard, phone, or fax.

Interpreting this information: it means it is paper-based and not internet information; it means regular company employees are during working hours; and it means applying via media other than the internet, such as Line or email.

It is easy to see that they are targeting the elderly. Judging from the program titles and the invitation copy, the objective seems to be to make them listen to an anxiety-inducing lecture and create an atmosphere where they feel they must consult with an expert. The deliverable, I suppose, is to round up the small fry caught in the bait after the lecture ends and sell them financial products.

◇

As a personal hobby, I often meet with financial firms for web seminar attendance and 1-on-1 Zoom meetings for information gathering and consultation.

The reason they are held for free is, of course, to acquire customers, so once the organizer unilaterally decides that they have gained trust, it is common for the second half of the meeting to turn into a sales pitch directed at me.

As a customer, I express my intention to end the meeting once my objectives have been met. Of course, the salesperson tries hard to reel me in so as not to easily release the fish they have caught.

◇

Unfortunately, I am not a fish, but a human with a will, so I can use scissors; if I cut the fishing line, I can escape without difficulty.

However, when it comes to the elderly, they cannot use scissors, and a misplaced sense of goodwill often emerges where they feel they must reciprocate the other party's kindness.

Since they provided this much information, I have to go along with the other party's requests. No, even before thinking that far, they have convinced themselves that it is a good product for them, and before they know it, they have been reeled in.

And I imagined how many elderly people there must be who, without even knowing they have been reeled in like fish, are swimming in a fishing pond enclosed by a frame from which they cannot escape. This is one example of ignorance equaling poverty and danger.