Harold Camping, Apocalypse Marketing for May 21, 2011, End of the World or Just High Prices?!

by John Cataldi | May 24, 2011 | Religion / Faith Marketing, The Real Mad Men

Rapture-nomics – Profiting on Prophecy, who cashed in on the doomsday hype?

So, as you may have noticed the end of the failed to materialize according to the predications of one Harold Camping.  This stunned, actually no one except, Harold Camping and a few thousand believers. As for myself, I believe I can speak for most that I’m happy that the apocalypse did not come to pass, especially since I spent May 21^st 2011, rapture eve, completing my honey do list. Though in retrospect, by bucket list for my last day on may most likely preclude me from a happy entry to the great beyond without a lot of explanation. Not surprisingly, a few judgment day marketers did cash in.

So here is my top ten list of Judgment Day Marketers, who cashed in on pre-rapture dollars, May 21^st on “End of the World” hype?

1.  Sumerian Records marketing department, with the timely release of “The End of World Party”
2.  Best Buy End of World Sale on 3D, HD TVs – because what is the end of the world, without seeing the rapture with the depth and clarity that can only come from a Samsung 3D TV!
3.  Living Social – with a more than a usual amount of 2 for one food and drink specials at 50% off. If you’re going to meet your maker, do it with a full belly and the unearthly rapture of the Apple Martini at the fabulous LA Fourchette, Atlanta, GA.
4. External Earth Bound Pets – Damn, according to FatherJoe.com and the Bible, your dog Sparky has no soul. So, there is no doghose in the sky waiting, but whose going to take care of him between rapture and doomsday? Fear not, Earth Bound Pets are there to take care of pets, whose owners are no longer earth bound!
5.  Vista Print – for advertising on Google Adwords under “need an apocalypse marketing sign”, and giving all pre-rapture participants 50% off, as long as you pay in advance.
6.  Amazon.com – Get 25% off the Rapture Survival Guide, for those left behind. It answers the big question, what do you do if you miss the rapture? Answer, duh, watch the end of days on your new, Best Buy, 3D Tv!
7.  The Post-Rapture Post – An atheist writing staff will continue to write your loved ones left behind from rapture to doomsday. Additional charges for calligraphy and replica ancient parchment.  
8.  Major Media Networks – For continuous coverage of the 89 year old transit worker, who derived secret code from the bible, then created a mathematical algorithm that predicted the exact day, hour, and minute of the rapture. I can compare your coverage to that of my youth when I watched Beavis and Butthead , it’s time I’ll never get back.
9. To the advertiser on those Major Media Networks – You spent approximately $70 million dollars in advertising that bumped into the end of world coverage. The only real losers here I guess would be Life Insurance and Financial Service Advertisers, since you can’t take your wealth you and come doomesday there would be no one left to spend your inheritance.  

10. 1.       Camping’s Family Radio Network and associated media networks – for raising an estimated $100 million dollars in donations from true believers, as the unofficial agency of record, in promoting judgment day. Here’s an idea, pick another date… say October 21^st 2011, and bank another few million.