This chapter is hilarious because it is so true! "Free" is completely intoxicating. I think he does a really good job of explaining that it is just basic survival instincts. I remember watching Oprah one time and she gave away these free shoes but they were all for the left foot or something. Most of the audience took one. One woman said she took it for her dog, but I am not entirely sure that the whole audience took one for their dog. At the time, I thought it was so lame but now it makes total sense. And I will admit that I have to think twice when I see "Free". Can I use this? Hmmmm.

You are right, Dwill. I like how he gives suggestions at the end of each chapter. Like, stop and think before you make decisions that affect you financially. I like this line from chapter 2: "Yes, a free market based on supply, demand, and no friction would be ideal if we were truly rational. Yet when we are not rational but irrational, policies should take this important factor into account." Ugggg! Blasphemy, Communism, and Socialism!

There's a book about this subject of free. I was looking at it a while ago but forget the title--wait, I shouldn't be so lazy but look it up. Okay, it's called Free: the Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson. It basically expands on Ariely's point that nothing is given for free, really, when it comes to business; a return is always expected by somebody. Still, I think it can sometimes seem that we're getting something valuable entirely for free, and that is very powerful for us, as you say. The internet is the biggest example of something that is at least almost free. Once we pay fee to someone to connect us, we're let loose to access information that previously would have cost us plenty to obtain, if we could have even found it anywhere. So maybe, in some sense, free is actually real and not just a marketing ploy, as I just implied.

I always want to laugh at those late-night commercials for products that say to us, "Order now and you also get--free!--an entire 6-piece of set of _________. But wait, there's more! You also receive....." By the time we've heard the whole spiel, we really are thinking that the main product itself is free, because the price is so offset by the stuff we're being given without charge.

Yes, those infomercials are hilarious. Especially when they are advertising a piece of crap that you know you would not want to begin with. Then they go: "But wait, there's more!" More crap that I did not want to begin with. Yay!

When I was studying Spanish it was great to watch infomercials on the Spanish Channels because they are so repetitive. I learned Free - Gratis in Spanish really quick! A use for infomercials!

DWill said:

I would say this is true and not just about business. In all parts of life a return is expected.

I blundered with this post. What it referred to was the chapter "The Cost of Zero Cost." The free cookie chapter is not in the edition I'm reading. I did a few days ago read the two added chapters at Borders, though. Ariely develops the positive use of the FREE! concept in the free cookie chapter. So this would indicate that he thinks irrationality can be harnessed for good. I don't think I'd call it irrationality in the first place, though.

Saffron said that Ariely has a new book out where he explores the positive aspects of irrationality.