8/27/2004 - Naming Your Product Line For Dummies

I just ordered two "Dummies" books. Skiing For Dummies, since I plan to start skiing for real this year (I started last year, but wasn't really serious); and Poker For Dummies, since I was just recently invited into a "serious" poker group. I'm not meaning to imply that Rick's group isn't serious, but they put up with me and my requests to explain every game each time we play it. This new group absolutely will not tolerate that. This new group has cigars and whiskey. This is big time.

I don't think anyone really cares about the above paragraph, but it was just to let you all know what triggered my thought process. There's another series of books out there with the same concept of simple language and thorough content. However, this series of books uses the phrase "The Complete Idiot's Guide To x".

Perhaps they should rename the series to "The Smelly, Stinky, Boogerfaced Moron's Guide To x". Seriously, I have to admit that, no matter how good "Idiot Guides" are, I will never purchase one. Reading one, I'd feel so vulnerable and defeated. Didn't "idiot" used to be a psychological classification for a person with a severely lacking IQ? Like moron. It's no longer playfully referring to someone's lack of knowledge in a particular subject, like "dummy", rather it's taking a poke at a person's mental capacities.

In a way, it makes me feel good. It proves to me that, even if something's not a fantastic idea, as long as you run with it without looking back, you can probably do pretty well for yourself. I'm sure that some people will buy the books because the phrase "Complete Idiot's Guide" caught their attention. That's what marketing's all about, right? They can't pander to people like me, who are so worried about my image and how I appear to others that I'd avoid a book series due to the name.

So does this mean that I avoid things because I myself superfically judge people based on their buying decisions? Yes! Totally!

Glad we settled that.