By David Golan (February 1, 2009) (apple t-shirts,lie detector,Question 2,Reading 2,tv)

The examples of Lie Detector usage in the Wonder Woman article illustrates the danger of blindly accepting what is labeled as “scientific.” The polygraph does not provide scientifically sound results, yet one might argue that it can help reveal one’s subconscious desires, as in the example of the childhood friends who break off their respective engagements because the lie-detector revealed to them that they are indeed in love with each other. Couldn’t this be used to deceive and persuade people to make bad decisions? People need to remember to not accept scientific research blindly and jump to early conclusions, but to put it in the right perspective.

I was wondering what everyone thought about the Apple Store T-shirts. I work as a Concierge at an Apple store and I’m constantly getting, “How can you wear orange everyday?” and “What’s the difference between the blue and the orange shirts?” Apple guides the customer’s focus on the shirt color as customers come to understand employees’ roles by color, and not by name. The terms specialist, concierge, creative, etc. rarely come up. Instead the customer equates role by color – “Where’s a blue shirt?” “I need to check in for my appointment with an orange shirt.” Don’t forget that blue and orange are complimentary colors, just as a concierge compliments a specialist. As the DisPepsi interview illuminated, “How does a corporate logo become fashion.” In this case, the corporation is creating its own fashion to persuade the customer’s journey in retail.

An experience that exposed an attempt to persuade me is the “switch to digital” television campaign. On February 17, all broadcast TV will switch to a digital signal. In preparation for this, there have been incessant commercials from cable and satellite companies to persuade viewers who use traditional antennas to buy their service. When my parents recently went to buy a TV at an electronics store, the salesperson tried to talk them into buying a high end HD TV, explaining that they should pursue that model as opposed to a more basic TV because of the digital switch. To counteract such misuse of information and to better inform the public, many news programs have tried to explain the options available, exposing the attempt to persuade people to buy expensive services when all they need is to buy a simple converter box. The persuasion tried to take advantage of people’s ignorance of technology and only focused on specific facts, not the whole truth. Such a technique is used all the time in sales and advertising, or simply in debate, to skew the truth to fit one’s own objectives. Again, as in the lie-detector, people need to stay informed and educated, and in a way, think skeptically.