"Happy Birthday!" Spam

I don't know if you've experienced this, but celebrating my birthday a couple days ago, I experienced like never before.

There are certain food establishments that send you a birthday greeting e-mail that includes a freebie - maybe a free ice cream or burger.

I have no complaint associated with these type of birthday related marketing devices because I'm getting something free for being "part of their club."

But this year I got a lot of birthday greetings from businesses with no-freebie attached. Instead, they were using my birthday as a reminder that they were there.

These birthday greetings included an e-mail from our mortgage broker we used a few years back.

Another birthday greeting was a personal card from a financial advisor who helped my wife with an account years ago. The hand written card "sincerely wished the best for me in the coming year."

I got a "happy birthday" text message from the dentists.

These reminders from these service providers seemed to cheapen the birthday experience. The financial advisers card looked like anyone else's birthday card sent through the mail, and I didn't want to be reminded of the dentist when I'm getting ready to eat my birthday cake.

So, creative as they think they are by being on top of their database and mining the information for marketing opportunities - a birthday greeting is not what I want.