I received this curious envelope in the mail the other day:
I wasn’t expecting a letter. And who’s it from? Hmm. Let’s see what’s inside.
O.K., a pretty standard ad flyer for cable Internet. But why was it addressed by hand? They send out thousands of these things. And why in an unheaded envelope?
Oh, wait, what’s that written at the top?
We just added the Internet at our place. We never knew the Internet could be so interesting – and so fast! Thought you would be interested.
—M
Well, then. Who, indeed, could have possibly known that the Internet was interesting? Who would suspect that there would be anything of note within the largest collection of information and widest array of communication that has ever existed on this planet? And it’s fast, you say? Then I sure am glad you just now added it at your place, M, and that you realized that I would be interested that the Internet is interesting.
This is one of the more harebrained (not to mention a little creepy) marketing campaigns I’ve seen from a large corporation, lately. Note how they think they’re being extra clever by omitting a return address and just using an initial (because it must certainly be from that person I know whose name starts with ‘M’) – real people always send things to their friends and family as close to anonymously as possible, right?
I think it’s the bizarre sloppiness that strikes me the most, though. They go through the effort of hand-addressing these and passing them off as coming from an individual, but that’s the message they choose? The Internet is interesting? I mean, it would be no simple task to convincingly convey why clandestinely forwarding an ad flyer through the post would be anyone’s means of broaching the subject of Internet acquisition with a friend, but I would expect something a little more creative than this bland, generic nonsense – that’s what the rest of the page is for!
Also, I kind of don’t live in Illinois.
But, on the other hand, this amused me enough to share it, so I guess their advertising dollars aren’t completely going to waste. (>^-‘)>
Bene scribete.
Writin' Fish 
Reading through your post (I’d looked at the image first), I really expected you to reveal that the “M” was your Mum… who had just joined the Digital Age :-)
Ha! That would make for its own kind of interesting story, wouldn’t it? (>^-‘)>
Yeah, but I guess I anticipated the wrong twist. Although, while the idea of anyone being suckered by such a letter may seem ridiculous to Internet-savvy people, I suppose older people who are not that familiar with the Internet are the main targets of such “sleazy snail mail campaigns”. Shame on marketers for trying to take advantage of that.
That was my thought as well. I’d still hope, however, that even a technologically ignorant person would find it strange to be propositioned for anything in such a peculiar manner by someone he or she supposedly knows. (>^-‘)>
On the other hand, I’d prefer this over people who keep calling me to sell me stuff and then just ignore me when I repeatedly tell them I’m not interested. Everyone likes getting mail, don’t they?
Yeah, that’s one way to look at it. (>^-‘)>
The “personal” note about “M” never knowing the internet could be so interesting and so fast cracked me up. *I* never knew CableONE’s advertising department could be so clueless. (Oh wait, actually I did know that.)
Yeah, I had to incredulously read it aloud several times. Good job, CableONE. Good job. (>^-‘)>
I think it is an elderly relative of yours that you just don’t remember. Look at how legible the handwriting is. :)
Ah, yes, that must be it. (>^-‘)>