Thursday, April 14, 2011

False advertising

I've been amused to see the CFCC filing a complaint with the FCC against "Your Baby Can Read." Besides the issue of why you'd even want your baby to read, what amazes me is that people STILL set aside what they know to be true (eg, babies can't read) because they want to believe that they can make their lives better through a quick fix (eg, drinking Vitaminwater). It holds true that a fool and his money are easily parted.

People can claim anything. I run into this a lot in my business...I've been working in virtual worlds for three years now, and I can count on one hand the number of people I know who are both experts in adult learning, organizational change AND virtual worlds. There just aren't that many people who have that knowledge and depth of expertise.

I do, however, run into people all of the time who claim they design for virtual worlds or immersive environments. If you knew what you were looking for, or scratched beneath the surface even a little bit, you'd find they don't know what they are talking about. But people LOVE to hear the marketing messages and see the shiny packaging, even if it turns out to be a lot of hype with no substance.

Do yourself a favor. If you are going to pay money for something, do a little research to make sure you're not just buying the marketing message. There are experts out there who actually DO know what they are talking about, have experience doing it, and aren't just saying the buzzwords in an appealing arrangement.

Oh, and do us all a favor and don't call yourself a thought leader

1 comment:

  1. Yep, those commercials drive my eldest son Freddie insane. He often yells at the screen, "Not possible! Not possible!"

    ReplyDelete