Proponents of the "would you like fries with your burger" approach to marketing listen up.

Our days of foisting unwanted products and features on Johnny Consumer are numbered.  The Internet is freeing us from the tyranny of "added value". William Bulkeley points out in today’s Journal that "when customers find a way to avoid buying excess baggage, they move quickly":

– The film industry spent years selling us rolls of 24 shots when all we ever  wanted was one or two good pictures of Fido. Walgreen’s continues the tradition by offering two sets of prints for the price of one.  New web services like Flickr and iPhoto allow us to pay for only the pictures we want.

– For years, the music industry sold us albums packed with songs, when all we really wanted was one hit single. iTunes and Napster saved us from this horrible blight.

– Newspapers sell us advertising packaged around news. TV assails us with unwanted commercials every 5 minutes or so. While we, the ad industry, continue to fool ourselves with the notion that consumers WANT to see our ads. Not so Google (Well not so much anyway).

– Encyclopedia Brittanica sold thousands of unopened volumes to people seeking enlightenment on just a few issues. Saved by Wikipedia and search engines.

– Technology companies of all sizes sell us products packed with features we will never use (and never asked for). Well, no one has saved us from this just yet. But its coming.

– Ad agencies and the media have sold Corporate America billions of dollars of advertising solutions with vague promises of "creating awareness". Perhaps never before has so much been paid for such nebulous results. (Do I hear you say, Praise Be for the Mortar?).

There is an important point here. The Web has returned the power of choice to the people.

But then again think of what we will miss?

My kids will never discover they like the "B" side more than the hit.

And who wants to throw away all those shoeboxes full of aging photographs? Which of us has not spent a few fond, unexpected hours, rummaging through boxes of family photos?

For the full perspective on this dimension of the consumer-internet revolution, read the full story here.

"The new fire extinguisher with the smooth lines of a martini shaker is the centerpiece of a new line of Home Depot products, called Orange Works, that will be unveiled today and begin appearing in stores next fall.

"Home Depot expects the line’s first three products to generate sales of $250 million the first year — a fraction of 1% of the company’s expected $90 billion in 2007 sales. But Chief Executive Robert Nardelli says he expects the new line to bring additional traffic that will result in increased residual sales."

Brand advocates rejoice, the new fire extinguisher is called a  ‘Home Hero’. 

And in a somewhat provocative move it appears to be silver and not red.  One wonders if that was a smart move?

Read more here (Wall Street Journal online, a subscription may be required).

eBay in Belgium is fly posting closed businesses. Simple. Effective. Better than the "IT" campaign f’sure. Seen on The Coolhunter.

Wrigley’s score with stickers on the base of Starbucks’ coffee cups. Seen on TheCoolhunter.