A mechanism or tactic · 1995 · Retail
The loyalty counter
Points, tiers, an anniversary date, a number that has been going up for years, and the quiet threat of what happens to it if you leave. The most ordinary parasocial object ever invented.
It converts a relationship into an account, and an account is something with a balance. Nobody feels moved by a balance. The remarkable thing is how much feeling the machinery of a balance can carry once you have also attached to a person - the anniversary counter is not a relationship, it is a receipt for one.
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