Adverts
2007-09-01
There's something wrong with TV adverts. Not all, of course, but certainly most...
The new JTML gadget contains 'special Rotamax technology' that means for every turn of the handle the blades turn four times. I once had a bike with 'special Rotamax technology' so that each time I turned the pedals the wheels turned a number of times: in fact, it was a special configurable 'Rotamax' arrangement that allowed me to decide on the ratio. Come to think of it, I used to mess around with 'special Rotamax technology' as a child, when I was fond of Technic Lego.
[To be fair, I quite like the look of the device. It's a hand-driven food mixer/blender/chopper thing, and I'm often quite fond of using manual devices rather than powered ones, especially where control is an issue. I'm quite fond of my hand mower and the best sewing machine I ever used was my ex-girlfriend's old hand-driven Singer.]
This whole 'you too can have a career in IT' thing bugs me. That's for two main reasons.
Firstly, IT is much like any other field: to get the best jobs you need drive, intelligence (versatility, wisdom, ability to learn, and so on) and some luck, and these courses can't give you those if you don't already have them. One of them claims that the 'average' salary in IT is some ludicrously high figure, which I'm sure isn't representative and if you didn't have what it took to succeed elsewhere you won't make anything like that in IT. Sure, people who weren't making the most of themselves elsewhere can have another shot at it, but it's not the land of milk and honey the adverts would have you believe.
My second bugbear is a much more personal one. I'm already in IT, and not making the most of myself. Although I'm sure a lot of people brought into the field by these adverts will be good as basic hardware technicians and early-line support - they're claiming that everyone can find a job in IT, after all - some of them will be driven, smart, and lucky, and the fewer of those people I have to share my field with the better.
There's that 'getting you out of debt' thing. Now, I recognise that there's only so much a person so deep in debt can do, but an IVA is a second-last resort. As best I understand it the arrangement effectively takes up all your disposable income for the next 5 years, and while there's a sense in which that 'doesn't cost you a penny' ... no, wait, I can't really see how that doesn't cost you a penny, unless you mean the way the IVA administrator's [substantial] cut comes out of money that should be your creditors', rather than yours.
It's probably frustrating to see an advert that claims that everything will be fine and dandy, then look into it and find that actually this is a way out of your situation - perhaps the best way - but that your straits are as dire as ever. More worrying is the message it might be giving to people who aren't yet in debt: the claim that you can simply hire some consultant from the television, not spend a penny and magically be out of debt is hardly going to encourage people to take care with their borrowings in the first place.
The new JTML gadget contains 'special Rotamax technology' that means for every turn of the handle the blades turn four times. I once had a bike with 'special Rotamax technology' so that each time I turned the pedals the wheels turned a number of times: in fact, it was a special configurable 'Rotamax' arrangement that allowed me to decide on the ratio. Come to think of it, I used to mess around with 'special Rotamax technology' as a child, when I was fond of Technic Lego.
[To be fair, I quite like the look of the device. It's a hand-driven food mixer/blender/chopper thing, and I'm often quite fond of using manual devices rather than powered ones, especially where control is an issue. I'm quite fond of my hand mower and the best sewing machine I ever used was my ex-girlfriend's old hand-driven Singer.]
This whole 'you too can have a career in IT' thing bugs me. That's for two main reasons.
Firstly, IT is much like any other field: to get the best jobs you need drive, intelligence (versatility, wisdom, ability to learn, and so on) and some luck, and these courses can't give you those if you don't already have them. One of them claims that the 'average' salary in IT is some ludicrously high figure, which I'm sure isn't representative and if you didn't have what it took to succeed elsewhere you won't make anything like that in IT. Sure, people who weren't making the most of themselves elsewhere can have another shot at it, but it's not the land of milk and honey the adverts would have you believe.
My second bugbear is a much more personal one. I'm already in IT, and not making the most of myself. Although I'm sure a lot of people brought into the field by these adverts will be good as basic hardware technicians and early-line support - they're claiming that everyone can find a job in IT, after all - some of them will be driven, smart, and lucky, and the fewer of those people I have to share my field with the better.
There's that 'getting you out of debt' thing. Now, I recognise that there's only so much a person so deep in debt can do, but an IVA is a second-last resort. As best I understand it the arrangement effectively takes up all your disposable income for the next 5 years, and while there's a sense in which that 'doesn't cost you a penny' ... no, wait, I can't really see how that doesn't cost you a penny, unless you mean the way the IVA administrator's [substantial] cut comes out of money that should be your creditors', rather than yours.
It's probably frustrating to see an advert that claims that everything will be fine and dandy, then look into it and find that actually this is a way out of your situation - perhaps the best way - but that your straits are as dire as ever. More worrying is the message it might be giving to people who aren't yet in debt: the claim that you can simply hire some consultant from the television, not spend a penny and magically be out of debt is hardly going to encourage people to take care with their borrowings in the first place.
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