It’s rare that I don’t accept everything that Seth Godin posts as marketing gospel. But the more I think about it, the more I believe that his recent post about a TSA snowglobe sign is a bit off-the-mark.
I don’t know which airport he took the picture of the sign, but I think in certain high tourist density airports (MCO, LAS, JFK, LGA, IAD, DCA, etc) in the main tourist season, it makes perfect sense.
I’ve always found that signs (even the stupid ones) are put up after too many people (even the stupid ones) make the same mistake. The TSA probably has a snow globe problem with tourists (who for the most part are infrequent travelers).
I would venture while thinking about avoiding carry-on liquids, the snow globe souvenir doesn’t cross many minds as the hotel room is frantically being packed. The angry blog post in an alternate reality might read:
This week, I visited {Tourist Attraction} with my family. Coming home, we had packed my daughter’s snow globe souvenir in my carry-on so it wouldn’t get broken by the baggage handlers. Imagine my surprise after we check our luggage, the TSA employee said we couldn’t take it through in our carry-on. I guess I know it does, but who thinks about the liquid inside snow globes? We had to trash it right there at the checkpoint so we could catch our plane. She was heartbroken. How much effort would it take for a simple sign to alert people?
I’ve never experienced heartbreak at security after having to throw away my princess snow globe. But I bet it happens. (I did almost lose a pocketknife once, even though I knew the rules.)
Just because you’re not in the bulls eye target for the message — doesn’t mean the message is not needed.
