Power of Euphemisms: BMW and T-Mobile
Used Cars
Owning a used car has always had so much stigma surrounding it. You never can really know if the car has:
- Been in a flood
- Been in an accident
- If there is a lien on the car
- If the vehicle is stolen
- Failed inspections in the past
- Been part of recalls
- Odometer misreadings
- Any structural / frame damage
- Been used for personal or professional purposes (as a taxi, etc)
BMW
Rather than trusting a used car salesman, which has no credibility, BMW decided to leverage their brand and reputation to create a new word for “Used.” They call it “Certified Pre Owned” (CPO). With CPO, a buyer of a used BMW from BMW will now have “the peace of mind of having a best-in-class warranty, and the confidence of knowing that they didn’t sacrifice performance for price.”
Actually when you search the CPO site for the word “used,” you will come up short. BMW is completely rebranding their used cars for a euphemism.
It is used cars which have all the issues and sleezy salesmen. BMW CPO cars are barely touched, German engineered vehicles with so many warranties that will make you feel like you’re getting a great deal on a brand new car.
T-Mobile and Net Neutrality
Net Neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers and governments should treat all data on the Internet the same, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or mode of communication.
Obviously Internet service providers (ISPs) have a lot to gain from its destruction. They would be able to hold certain websites at ransom by throttling their speeds unless they pay up.
Net Neutrality came into the public eye back in 2014, when the beloved Netflix started complaining that it wasn’t being treated fairly by all ISPs.
As you can see, Verizon and AT&T are clearly throttling its speed. Because Netflix is heavy on delivering LARGE digital content, it needs those ISP speeds to be as high as what the homes pay for.
There have even been movements to raise awareness of Net Neutrality and how debilitating it can be. Battle For the Net created a banner for popular sites to put on to signify what the Internet would look like if Net Neutrality was done away with.
T-Mobile
Wireless Carriers and some ISPs allot consumers a finite about of bandwidth a month. If a consumer exceeds that figure, they will have to pay overage fees. However, as most media shifts to the streaming, consumers would be hitting their limits very early in their billing cycle.
T-Mobile has a “Binge On” (euphemism) plan. In this plan, you can listen/watch all the content you want without worrying about your limits. Under one condition. It has to be the partners that T-Mobile chooses. Although T-Mobile continues to expand their partner list, it is clear that this is exactly what Net Neutrality is trying to fight.
Mobile carriers have started out with limited bandwidth. It’s actually the main driver of the price of the plan. So when they start to “give us breaks” on what doesn’t get counted towards this quota, they seem like the good guys. What is really happening is that they are setting precedence on having an excuse to throttle their “opponents” and let their “allies” fly.
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