As Seen on TV
// November 13th, 2009 // No Comments » // caveat emptor, marketing, social media
The Importance of Celebrity….
In today’s culture, being on TV is king. Everybody wants to be famous. So, it’s absolutely huge when someone says “As Seen On TV” right? Well, that depends…
How many times have you been standing in line at Wal-Mart and they have a bunch of stuff that has the “As Seen on TV” label on it. You know, stuff like the Snuggie. Or that thing that cleans your windshield. Or any other bunch of stuff that you’ve seen on an infomercial at 3am. In this case, just because it was on TV doesn’t make it good. They just bought airtime.
The same can be said for companies. You can buy airtime on the news. You can also buy a slot on somewhere like Great Day SA. You might also get on TV for free if you do something special or silly enough. So when someone posts on their website, “As Seen on TV”, you might investigate further. What were they on TV for? Was it free? Was it paid publicity? Did it have anything to do with what they are doing now? Was it even for doing something good?
I could post on here “As Seen on Channel 7″. In fact, I do. I disclose that I have been on TV in my About Me page. In my case, I’m giving a general history of myself, not trying to sell anything in particular. Some places will advertise a As Seen On… on their website, but it doesn’t have anything to do with what they’re doing now. They’re just trying to add credibility.
Here’s an example from another company in San Antonio:
Whilst it’s true that they were mentioned on all the above sites, they’re advertising is still a little ingenuous. You see, what they were on all of these sites for has nothing to do with what they are currently advertising their services as. They are currently selling a web based SEO tool, whilst all the “Mentions” were for a “twitter study”. Most of the mentions weren’t even very flattering. If you’re going to hire someone based on all the so called credibility of being famous, ask them to show you copies of all their mentions. See if it’s even good publicity. Bernie Madoff, if he were to ever be released from prison could start working as a broker again and state that he was seen on CNN and Fox News. He’s not lying. It just doesn’t mean that he was on there for the right reasons.
So always do your research. On Google, it’s easy. Type in the company you’re thinking of hiring, then do a news search. See if the news search matches up with what they’re saying. After all, you’d hate to send your kid to some summer camp because they said they were featured on TV, only to find out they were on the news because they failed their health inspections or a bunch of kids went missing on a hike….
Caveat Emptor.
