The Power of Marketing

Marketing is one of the most effective tools companies have in their toolbox. Companies are able to take small differences between their product and a competitors', whether advantageous or otherwise, and spin it in such a way that takes customer mind share. Companies frequently perceived as "higher-end" are particularly good at using their marketing in ways that promote that fashionability of their products--and Apple, Lexus, and Starbucks are among the best-known examples.

Jimmy Kimmel Live! did an experiment to see if customers could 'tell the difference' between two identical cups of coffee, simply by telling the customers that the customers that one was 'premium'.

How could advertising and customer bias affect our decisions as educators and as technological advisors in education?

Source: The Consumerist

Internet Explorer Ad Attempts to Overcome Negative Product Bias

While companies such as Apple and Google frequently enjoy positive product biases for their products, Microsoft has been fighting negative consumer bias with its products for many years, and in no fight has it had to try harder than with its Windows-native browser, Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer was once the bug-ridden, standards ignoring, virus inviting, toolbar-loving mess of a browser that left many computer users in search of something better. With the advent of Mozilla's Firefox and Google's Chrome, Microsoft has a fierce uphill climb against negative publicity the browser has received over the last decade--and continues to receive as long as it retains its current name, despite its recent metamorphosis.

How can technological bias' effect our abilities as educators to provide the best products and tools for students' learning?

Via: The Verge
See Also: Beauty of the Web