Protecting Ourselves from Sense

Asheley Landrum recently wrote an article about the bullshit of bullshit. In it, she critiques studies about bullshit as being bullshit themselves, because of the authors’ predisposition toward information that supports said bullshit effect.

Insights Good and Bad

Back in the early 90s one of the most pervasive sources of misinformation weaved its way into mass media, one that is still widely believed today despite numerous revisions and an updated scientific consensus.

The source in question is the USDA food pyramid, introduced in 1992 and the first of its kind to not only separate food into common groups, but also recommend daily servings of each.

Limits of Neuromarketing

Empirical evidence is a good thing, and when looking at how people respond to advertising, it’s something that the marketing discipline will always benefit from. However, there is a fine line between evidence that is applicable to marketing and evidence that is not.

Among more recent trends is neuromarketing, the idea that brain mapping in real time can determine how consumers behave in response to a brand, product, or campaign. While promising, this field of research is still in its early stages, and should be approached critically.

Knowing Your Sources

Market research, like all social science research, falls into one of two categories: quantitative and qualitative. Quant data can be categorised and statistically measured, whereas qual data is non-objective, and cannot be categorised systematically (e.g. numerically).

The difference is pretty stark, but market research is particularly susceptible to pulling quant statistics out of the ass of qual data. This kind of research, unsurprisingly, tells us nothing, and I have found the perfect example to demonstrate why.

Big Data | Faffery

Quick guys, we need to know ASAP how this target market behaves. We need to track eye movements and mouse hovering and other arbitrary wank to really know our customers. We need to know our customers so we can push this brand vision and do some real and proper engagement.

You know what we need? We need some data. And I mean, data. Big fucking fuckloads of data. What do you mean, “how do we get it”? It’s only data, numbers and shit, yeah? Here, just take these surveys and throw them at people.