TechXiety - Viral MeMe's & The New Media

Donations - A PR / Marketing Stint? Unbelievable Insincerity!

Not trying to strike a nerve. Merely letting off steam. It's just that all these years, we've seen pictures and videos of CEO's, Manager's, Publicists and Marketing personnel smiling widely on papers, magazines, brochures, leaflets and on TV holding up mock cheques being passed on to various organizations helping the needy, homeless and less fortunate in under developed countries or countries where devastating disasters strike. At that very moment, flashes from cameras start going off, "click flash click flash click click flash flash", as though the givers are the biggest celebrities in the world. An example depicted below (random pic).

Are these people or organizations really sincere in donating or do they all have a different agenda of their own... namely marketing / publicity stint? What's next huh? .. i bet they could stoop even lower than that! Well sincerity comes from the heart. The same applies to donations or when doing charitable work. Ask any elderly or 'sane-headed' folk, they will concur with me. If you have a different agenda, why even bother? The true gift of giving is one that does not expect anything in return. That's what makes it a gift and it's given without any thought of getting something back. But wait...

Halo 'Effecting' The General Public

IPod is great, Apple TV is wonderful, MacBook Air is marvelous, but some of you have never heard of Apple TV nor MacBook Air am i not right? And you were almost certain that Apple's next product was going to be another instant megahit after you purchased your IPod am i not right? Apple's marketing and sales team will love you and Steve Jobs will be laughing his butt off all the way to the bank for the next few years because of this. Ever wondered why? Psychologists call this the 'Halo Effect', a cognitive bias whereby in the words of the Wikipedia entry, 'a cognitive bias whereby the perception of a particular trait is influenced by the perception of the former traits in a sequence of interpretations'... that's the beauty of the 'Halo Effect'.. oh how it registers so much in our brains unconsciously.

IPod was a success and after that, all other releases by Apple are thought to be of the same attributes that of the IPod (cool, hip & trendsetting).. a 'social epidemic' as some analysts would say. Now how cool is that? Spend millions of advertising and marketing dollars on one product / service, and this effect would take its toll on subsequent and follow-up products / services. How brilliant it is!