Businesses profit form our inattentiveness.

The New York Times reports on some controversy in the methods of credit reporting service freecreditreport.com. You can’t escape the commercials, (70 million dollars buys a lot of eyeballs) but just in case some readers don’t have a TV, here you go. Most people seem to like the spots, but some consumers were either unaware that they signed up for a monthly fee or if they were aware, the forgot to cancel. A certain Tom Waits song comes to mind.

It reminds me a little of rebates, whose purpose, I suspect is to hope consumers forget to send them in. Once I found an expired rebate form, and since then I’ve developed a new practice. Before I fully use my purchase, I send in that rebate form.

In any case, at least it’s not controversial to say that the spots (and the relentless media buy) have drawn a lot of attention.