Heineken Departure Roulette: Would you push the button?

[Morrus]

In its latest marketing stunt, Heineken asked travelers in JFK's terminal 8 to take a leap of faith and press a button on a specially-designed "departure roulette" board, which would assign them a new destination at random — effective immediately.

The catch - you have to go. If you push the button, there's no backing out.

[video=youtube;PenROORvLyw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PenROORvLyw&feature=player_embedded[/video]

 

[Umbran]

Interesting.

Most of the time, when I'm at an airport, it is because someone's depending on me to be somewhere. In those cases, nope, not dropping my plans.

If it was my wife and I, going on vacation... that would depend on what our current plans are. I would not have ditched our trip to Italy for a random trip to just somewhere. But, if we are just going to some domestic destination, yes, we might just take them up on it.

But as for the "must" do it - unless you actually sign a contract before pushing that button, they can't *make* you do anything.

 

[Morrus]

But as for the "must" do it - unless you actually sign a contract before pushing that button, they can't *make* you do anything.

I pretty much assumed they did, and that you handed them your plane ticket first. Otherwise, the whole exercise is a bit pointless. Like a casino where you didn't have to lose your stake.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

That's a tad too much chaos for me. If I'm traveling, I'm usually doing so for a reason beyond mere enjoyment, with associated expectations & expenses.

Even though I might enjoy the adventure in the abstract, the change would probably cost me in ways I couldn't afford.

 

[Janx]

That's a tad too much chaos for me. If I'm traveling, I'm usually doing so for a reason beyond mere enjoyment, with associated expectations & expenses.

Even though I might enjoy the adventure in the abstract, the change would probably cost me in ways I couldn't afford.

Exactly. Plane tickets ain't cheap. Anybody going anywhere probably has people expecting them or money spent on hotels, etc for when they get there (tickets to the local sports team, etc).

Furthermore, there's the unplanned expense of doing things at wherever you end up getting to. I could be planning to fly up to see the relatives, basically my only expense was my plane ticket. But now, I'm landing in New York City, land of everything expensive.

Suddenly, I go from crashing in the guest bedroom and free food and transportation, to needing to pay for taxis, hotels, restaurants, and worse, sight seeing.

I suppose it makes for interesting reality TV, for the leaf-on-the-wind types that don't have any responsibilities or budget who take them up on it. But I can't see anybody else doing it. Besides, we all know what happens to leaves on the wind.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

They get stabbed in the chest, right?

But as for costs, I was thinking of all the stuff I was planning on doing on the trip that I suddenly wouldn't be doing: ticking off a box in my bucket list, attending X's wedding, going for a conference necessary for my continued licensing, etc.*

Because, like I said, I rarely travel just to travel, I travel for specific reasons.










* in fact, I'm going to San Antonio next month to attend a wedding AND a conference!

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Yeah, I can't see the up side to this. I travel a lot, mostly for work, but even when it's for play it is for a purpose so randomly disrupting my plans would have little to no benefit.

 

[Umbran]

I pretty much assumed they did, and that you handed them your plane ticket first. Otherwise, the whole exercise is a bit pointless. Like a casino where you didn't have to lose your stake.

I was just as willing to take it to be partially or completely staged for the advertisement, so no big assumptions. For example, I'd be completely unsurprising to find the destinations were in no way random - "I don't know what it will be when I push the button" does not imply real randomness in the choice. They may have had a list of three or four, and it may have been completely determined which one the next button-push would get.

But, if they are really sending people places, I would expect that they'd be covering any fees you incurred for cancellation of your original plans, and give you more than plane fare - I would expect it is actually more like a vacation package, with plane fare and hotel included. You do not want someone to agree to be sent to a random country where they don't speak the language without giving them at least safe housing - the liability is too great, and you can't actually sign away your right to sue if something goes really wrong.

 

[Ahnehnois]

No. Too many safety issues. Also, I don't know how many countries I could even eat in.

 

[GSHamster]

Well, I don't see how they would get around visa requirements. And there are some countries I would prefer not to travel to on general safety grounds, or without adequate preparation.

But if it was a random domestic destination in the US or Canada, I'd be more than happy to do this.