There’s no escaping the fact that Tiger Woods’ personal life has become very public in the last couple of days. But what, you may well ask, could his “transgressions” possibly have to do with consumer behaviour or market research? The answer is in Tiger’s statement after his private life became monumentally public. Here’s what he said on his website: “I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves.” Now none of us can say whether this is what Tiger Woods really feels, or whether this is just the best thing he can think to say in the position he has found himself. But for the purposes of this post, let’s take Tiger at his word. He has not been true to his values. Market research is frequently preoccupied with […]
Crime Victim’s Consumer Behaviour Lessons
I was working at a client’s store, watching customers for a few hours as I do, but I wished I had been watching my car instead. It was parked just outside the store, but whilst I was figuring out what was going on in the minds of people looking at products on the shelves, some thieving so-and-so was helping themself to the wing mirror from my car. My first reaction on seeing part of my car missing was to imagine what would have happened had I seen the thief at work on my car: for a moment I saw myself running across, tapping him on the shoulder and then beating his skull on the side of my vehicle. However, this fantasy was soon interrupted by a dose of healthy pragmatism: I’m not that brave, I haven’t assaulted anyone since I was in a playground fight at the age of ten […]
Getting a Book Published: Why It’s Like Going to the Doctor
Getting a book published shouldn’t be like going to the doctors, but it is. You know how it is; something doesn’t seem right so you go to the doctor and part of you thinks, “I’ll ask him (or her) what’s wrong and then I’ll know.” But of course that isn’t what happens. The doctor isn’t sure. So you get sent for tests. “When I get the test results I’ll know…” Except the test results are inconclusive, or else they point to something that there isn’t really anything they can give you. And so it goes on. There I was thinking there would be a “we love your book” moment from a publisher and a big party, but it hasn’t worked out that way. Instead I got a very nice email saying that a publisher would like to discuss my book with me. Don’t get me wrong, this is GREAT NEWS, […]
How Racist Are You? Not the Lesson Intended
Last night I watched Channel 4’s documentary in which American school teacher Jane Elliot conducted a demonstration of how racism feels by dividing a group of volunteers along lines of eye colour and discriminating against the blue-eyed group. From the outset the blue-eyed group were treated badly by Ms Elliot, being put down and ridiculed by the fierce moderator herself, segregated into an uncomfortable room for two hours, before being put with the brown-eyed group who she had attempted to prime to treat the blue-eyed group as inferior. Her original aim had been to demonstrate to her own class of all white children how it felt to be discrminated against for something as arbitrary as eye-colour is unfair and illogical. She described that in her original exercise… “I watched how what had been marvelous, wonderful, thoughtful, co-operative children turn into nasty, viscous, discriminating little third-graders.” Leaving aside how unethical her experiment […]
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