I am somewhat nonplussed, and unimpressed, by this email that I received from the Carina Medical and Specialist Centre which is a a nearby general practitioners clinic that I have been to, twice – for a girly swot check-up a year ago, and I went there once when my usual GP was away on holidays.  That’s it.  But obviously, I am in their database and they have decided that they can email me for Movember to inform me about their Men’s Health campaign.  Now, while I applaud their initiative in getting on board with the whole men’s health month thing… using my supplied personal details to send me information that is completely irrelevant to me seems a bit much.  Especially since, they obviously have my files and I’m female and therefore not someone who needs a men’s health check up.  So I was mildly annoyed they accessed a patient database to send out a promotional campaign in the first place, and doubly annoyed that their information technology department is so inept as to target the promotional material so poorly…

But then a little further down email, it seemed to get a little bit worse.  My receiving this campaign wasn’t a matter of accidentally sending a men’s health check up promotion to obviously female patients.  Instead, it seems they’re pimping me out to look after ‘his’ health.  Which I kinda found inappropriate on so many levels.  For one, they’re assuming I have a ‘him’ in my life at all, which certainly is none of their business… as well, they seem to be somehow implying that I’m fucking responsible for ‘his’ goddamn health!

What the hell?  I can’t imagine them sending out a blanket advertising campaign to all patients on the importance of regular pap smears and mammograms, and going so far as to say “Gents, if your woman won’t book – book for her.  Early detection saves lives!”  It just wouldn’t happen. They just wouldn’t do it.  So why does this clinic consider it appropriate to send this out and assume that I’m responsible for enforcing my assumed partner to go off and have a health check-up?

Anyway, after a slight ‘wtf’ moment, I did what any normal human would do – attempt to unsubscribe from their bullshit advertising material.  So I clicked the unsubscribe button and was greeted with this:

Yeah… kinda special.  I don’t want their stupid email promotion campaigns aimed at people who well, have penises, but if I click the unsubscribe button, I won’t get reminder emails for stuff that I actually need.  Given my laid back temperament and reputation for having a tendency to do absolutely nothing when confronted with life’s little annoyances – I emailed those bastards immediately telling them how inappropriate it was that I was getting their stupid male health check up email in the first place (given they obviously have access to my records and are therefore able to determine that I’m female!), and that I find it doubly inappropriate that I can’t unsubscribe from promotional material without potentially risking missing out on important reminders!  Fuck that.

Grrr.  What I am really wondering is, though… why does it feel like we are constantly being bombarded with this sort of bullshit on a regular basis – unsolicited promotional emails, things that are just inappropriate or offensive or downright stupid.
Over it. Over it. Over it!