So yesterday I went and bought the above iPOD clock radio.
There were a number of reasons why I went out to buy it … none of them in the least bit practical …
1 I’d just been in the World’s most boring research meeting and needed something to make me feel good about wasting the last 2 hours of my life
2 I am a sad, technology-obsessed individual
3 We have so many bloody iPODs around the place, anything that can take one off the shelf and charge it is alright by me
4 It came with a remote control – meaning it is more than a clock, it’s a gadget
5 I like the idea of waking up to something other than a Naziesque ‘Buzzer’ or the most inane Singaporean Radio DJ [think Fluff Freeman from 1982!]
Anyway, when I got it back to the office, I was looking at the symbols on the box …
Made For iPod
Dual Alarm
Wake To iPod, Buzzer or Radio
Play & Recharge
… then I came across this one …
What the …. !!!???
The cheeky bastards are trying to make out that ‘Worldwide Radio Frequency Ranges’ is some sort of ‘super, special feature’ when in reality, every soddin’ radio on the planet offers exactly the same benefit.
They’re not saying my new gadget can pick up all radio stations in the World from my house in Singapore … oh no … they’re just saying that wherever I take it in the World, it can pick up local radio signals.
It’s like Ford promoting cars saying, “Multi-Journey Capable”
That little logo … that seemingly innocuous little symbol … immediately made me look at the product as a pile of cheap tat, which for a new brand in the marketplace [iLuv] is not good.
Luckily for them, it works really well … but marketers preoccupation with meaningless little symbols is driving me mad, especially when they are for features which really aren’t ‘unique features’ at all.