by Jack Burke – Jack@HighVelocityCommunications.com
Slate.com offers a periodical feature called “Bogus Trend Stories” that picks up—and picks apart—news features that claim to substantiate some type of new phenomenon out in the real world.
The latest example was a story from the New York Times that claimed that pot bellies were now the latest “hip” trend. No, not pot-bellied pigs, but real pot bellies, the kind you can get from drinking PBR and eating pork rinds.
What makes something hip? That’s the rub, according to Slate.com. The author “names no leader of potbelly hipness and uncovers no evidence of hip potbellies in the cinema, the stage, the concert hall, the night club, or elsewhere. It's just these random guts strolling around New York. You might as well say argyle socks are hip.”
Keep the idea of the “Bogus Trend Stories” in mind when you’re writing your public relations or marketing ideas. Don’t make claims that can’t be substantiated, don’t stretch to impress with facts that aren’t quite right. Keep your own “bogus” meter fine-tuned so you don’t set off someone else’s.
