Sex, money and men

“For advertisers, it’s a common strategy to manipulate consumers by tapping into their feelings of loneliness, worthlessness and despondency,” Whitbourne says in the Time article. “But because the items that these depressed shoppers may buy can never really ‘fill the void,’ advertisers set up these shoppers for a further cycle of depression and despair should they drain those designer wallets by overspending.”

Yet another commenter frowns on the campaign: “Clever, right? Except, as anyone who has ever shopped because of stress/hunger/overall ennui knows, you wind up returning half that stuff you bought because you buck up and realize you didn’t really want it,” style reporter Charlotte Cowles writes in New York magazine. “Alternatively, by the time you realize that what you desperately need is therapy, not shoes, you’ll have yet another problem to contend with: debt.”

Personal Post

Here’s this week’s Color of Money Question: Do you find the “Fill the Void” campaign a funny take on shopping as a coping mechanism? Send your comments to colorofmoney@washpost.com. Please include your name, city and state. Put “Shop to Cope” in the subject line.

Password Protected

Illinois has now made it illegal for employers to ask job applicants for passwords to their online profiles, reports the Associated Press.

As part of the hiring process, some companies and government agencies have been asking prospective employees to reveal their passwords for logging in to social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. Of course there has been some pushback from critics who argue that such a request is an invasion of privacy.

“We’re dealing with 21st-century issues,” Gov. Pat Quinn said. “Privacy is a fundamental right. I believe that and I think we need to fight for that.”

The law, set to take effect Jan. 1, will fine up to $300 any employer who is caught breaking the law. The law protects both current employees and prospective hires. However, the measure does not prevent employers from looking at online information that isn’t private.

“Research has shown that 75 percent of employers require their human resources departments to look at online profiles before offering an applicant a job, and that a third of employers have turned down applicants based on those searches” Lori Andrews, a professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Chicago-Kent College of Law, says in the article.

Maryland has a similar law, and several other states are considering bans, including Washington, Delaware and New Jersey, AP reported. Two U.S. senators have asked the U.S. Department of Justice to review whether such password requests from employers are legal.

Responses to “Are you better off”

For last week’s Color of Money Question, I asked: “Are you better off financially than you were when Obama became president?”

In a Washington Post special report, “Liberty, Through the Lens,” voters from the campaign battleground state of Virginia were asked if their financial situation had gotten better or worse since the election of President Obama four years ago.