November 2008 Archives

I don’t pretend to be a computer expert by any means. Okay, I know some html, have built a couple of (very) basic websites for fun and know how to plug USB cables in. But it isn’t like I am a qualified technical engineer.

To be perfectly honest, I still use Google every day to find out what half the words I’m reading actually mean.

Bloggers love exploiting hot topics, because they know they draw traffic. Stick the right words in a headline and you are almost guaranteed a boost. Add a dose of titillation as well, by slipping sex and/or scandal into the subject, and you’ve got an instant headline classic that people can’t resist clicking!

Sex, religion and politics. Yup, today’s blog post has it all. A free-for-all grab-bag smorgasbord of controversy. So why would I risk poking the three most sensitive topics with my razor sharp intellect and ‘I am right’ opinions?

Well, apart from the fact that I am right – see above – the real theme of today’s post is controversy. Is it worth using controversy to create buzz? Can it backfire? I explore those ideas through the filter of the traditional triumvirate of controversy.

So tomorrow the Americans go to the polls at the conclusion of probably one of the biggest and most expensive marketing exercises in the history of the planet. Yup, it’s not politics, it’s marketing, with media buys and flashy advertisements and persuasive speeches and ‘product placement’ of candidates within popular television programs like Saturday Night Live.