At the risk of downvote oblivion, I’m gonna say that’s not asshole design. They’re offering a reward system, and having advertising as an inseparable part of that doesn’t seem unethical.
Don’t get me wrong, advertising as a general industry is deplorable. But this seems at least somewhat reasonable (especially considering how easy it is to filter emails to junk).
Based on my experience when I was still buying Domino’s, these emails that you can’t opt out of aren’t even ads. “Status of your account and points total” is what it says on the tin. It’s not promotional offers or spam, it’s information pertinent to your account meaning it’s rare.
This might have changed in the years since I stopped using Domino’s so YMMV.
Hey I’m just checking in with your account status. Definitely just that, not hoping you’ll but anything…
All emails companies send you are designed to get you to spend money.
It’s an ad.
Of course if that ad comes with a discount I might not be unhappy to get it. But if a(n) status message ad comes in reminding me of pizza and it’s on a day they want me to pay full price for dominos. Then I don’t want that message.
Either I’ll feel hungrier or poorer.
I regularly send emails to spam that say something along the lines of “Hey, you have free dominos” because I could redeem 20 points for a free ranch dressing. I also get emails about whatever deal they decide to have that week.
I can’t fix that cause I need 60 for the pizza, the 20 is gonna sit idle.
Also while I’m bringing it up, 20 for a sauce? Hell no. 10 would be too high.
But yeah, they’re annoying, but within reason for a rewards program, I do get something from this.
Not really a smart move on their part as that will lead to a lot of people marking them as spam. There are a few legit companies I’ve subscribed to and their messages end up in gmail spam because people use that instead of just unsubscribing.
Could always just mark the emails as spam.
This is why I heavily use email aliases, as well as a catch-all. I use a different alias for each service or website I need to sign up for.
That way if they sell or leak my info, I know exactly who did. And if they pull some bullshit like this, I add the alias to a sieve filter, and they can get bent.
Account status and points totals could be viewed as essential communication.
I used a service that used email as MFA, but they also used the same mail service for marketing. When I opted out of marketing they stopped sending me my login emails :/