I must agree with Geno–it’s a really dumb way to promote a product. The point of this article is any company can find some doctor or some "authority figure’ somewhere that can cook up some study or something that appears factual in order to support their claims. Due to such an increasing phenomenon among manufacturers, it becomes necessary to be completely skeptical of a product if and until one can prove such claims true. This kind of ‘support’ is not unlike the faulty reasoning employed by career educators who advocate using technology to ‘enhance the classroom and learning experience.’ They think if they give children 12-18 laptops that said children will automatically become more responsible, more engaged in the learning process, and automatically (by fiat) become smarter somehow. The reality is that if any student does not choose to learn, it doesn’t matter how much technology one has at one’s disposal–the result will be a dismal failure. That’s really the same case here: the attempt to use a ‘crutch’ to somehow bring the family together. As FidelC so rightfully alluded to, the industry must picture the majority of families as couch potatos (which that part may not be that far from the truth)… However, that image is partly laughable, partly sad and partly insulting. The goal of promoting a product is supposed to be showcasing all its advantages and/or reasons for purchasing as compared to a competing product. Once any company insists on attempting to ‘buy support’ to prop up product sales and even employ erroneous assertions as proof, I’d not only view said company with great suspicion, but likely even go so far as to not even buy from that company at all. If any company is going to try to do all these things just for $$$, what does that say about how honest the company REALLY is about the product performance, quality and customer support? The whole “HD picture” in the above senses is VERY disturbing to me.
This message was edited at: 28-10-2007 00:29