Yes I think Sports Illustrated is stupid. In this case not because of their potentially sexist swimsuit edition, or poor content but because of their business practices, specifically their marketing practices.
I was a happy SI customer until one day not long ago I received an envelope that looked like it was from SI telling me that because I was such a good, long term customer I was eligible for a special gift. I now know that when SI says “good long term customer” they mean “sucker”. You see SI had sold my name and credit card info to a shady marketing organization.
It turns out my “free gift” wasn’t free and was a cheap piece of junk to boot. I was charged an exorbitant shipping fee of $90 for a couple of worthless trinkets. Boy was I mad when I saw this charge on my credit card!
I cancelled my SI subscription and complained via their web site and received not one word in response to my polite complaint.
If you assume that the scam marketer made a profit off of the $90 it stole from me and that they would have had to contact dozens if not hundreds of “marks” before finding a sucker like me we can assume SI received pennies per name for this list. This leads me to the conclusion that SI values a subscriber at less than $1.
The fact that SI finds me and my subscription worth less than $1 is the first reason I believe them to be stupid. Another reason to back up this opinion I stated earlier; they never responded to my complaint at the time I cancelled my subscription.
At the time this happened I predicted SI would take a third action that supports my belief that they are stupid and, unless they change their ways, headed for bankruptcy. And I was right! They are now spending far more than the $1 they sold my name for to win me back!
Their first of what I predict will be numerous efforts to get me to subscribe again included a huge discount off of my subscription and a free jacket with the logo of the NFL team of my choice. The offer claims a value of more than $100 (like I would now believe them).
It doesn’t take an Ivy League MBA to figure out selling something for pennies then offering to buy it back for $100 is bad business and stupid. Yes, Sports Illustrated is stupid.