People have been been blogging up and down, left and right about the Rock Stars of Science campaign. Click on all of those links to begin to see the extent of it. They barely scratch the surface, but clearly, everybody has an opinion.
That’s a very good thing.
Somehow, amid all this, I’ve forgotten to draw attention to the contest that goes along with the campaign.
Here’s the story: Go to the Rock Stars website and scroll down. You will see, on the right, a pair of speakers like these. They’re MUJI speakers–light weight, collapsible, portable. You can fold them up and place them in a pouch.
GQ is randomly selecting 1,000 people to receive free speakers–if they enter their names on the website by Dec 20. (Further details and official contest rules here).
So I suggest you click over and enter your name if you want these dudes. It is not like it takes a lot of effort. And while I don’t know how many people have entered their names yet, a giveaway of 1,000 suggests your odds may not be that bad.
At any rate…I did it. There are some neighbors who really deserve to be blasted in the wee hours…and I’m sure you have your reasons too. So again, go to the Rock Stars website and click the speakers.
P.S.: Sorry Martin Robbins…you’re not eligible. Gotta be in the 50 states! Too bad…that puppy of yours could have used a soundtrack.
December 6th, 2010 at 10:41 pm
[...] For Those About to Rock…You’ll Need These. Chris Mooney has a round-up of ‘Rock Stars of Science’. I’ve been meaning to talk about this, as Chris gave me a heads up, but I’ve been kind of busy with other things. But better late than never. I have some of the same concerns as the nay-sayers. Is this really necessary? The campaign strikes me as kind of cheesy and ill-thought out. But the critical thing to focus on is that it isn’t about me, it’s about the efficacy of this sort of thing in furthering the ends of science. I’m not convinced that this will help, but I’m skeptical that this will hurt. Therefore though my personal gut response is consonant with the reaction of those who think this strikes a false note, I can acknowledge that I’m not the typical person on the street. Additionally, many marketing campaigns work through implicit associations, and this might get the job done on that level and shatter some old associations. The target audience is presumably the type of person who’ll never encounter PV = nRT or doesn’t know that acceleration is the derivative of velocity with respect to time. Both cool concepts, but total gibberish to the masses. Science is a cultural enterprise which needs institutional support, and I am not going to judge these sorts of campaigns on my personal reaction. Rather, I’ll be interested in whether these campaigns reduce or elevate the image of science as an enterprise in the eyes of the public. For that, there needs to be some social science! More marketing as science, and less as art, in the interests of science! [...]