I think that the Joe the Plumber incident nicely illustrated the danger of using a real person as a persona. Joe went from the little guy striving for the American dream to a guy who doesn't even have his plumbing license and owes back taxes.
Eva Kaniasty http://www.linkedin.com/in/kaniasty On Thu, Oct 16, 2008 at 6:20 PM, Steve Baty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > This notion of voter archetypes is used a lot as a rhetorical device in > politics. Even if politicians sometimes drill in a specific individual - > like this case - and we see the same thing occurring frequently in > Australian politics "A pensioner living on $xx/wk and receiving healthcare > etc etc will be affected in the following way by this policy change". > > Like personas, these voter archetypes are intended to make a more concrete > connection between the policy and the 'real people' of the electorate. > > This is the first time I've seen archetypes used so frequently and > prominantly in US politics, although that may reflect me more than > anything. > "Joe Six-pack", "Joe the Plumber" and the "people on Main St, small-town, > USA" are all intended to evoke a particular image of 'real Americans' which > is exactly the purpose of personas - common understanding of an audience > (electoral) segment. > > Steve > > 2008/10/17 Will Evans <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > > Really good point you bring up though. I know when Steve Mulder was > writing > > The User is Always Right - he really hoped it would gain traction outside > > the arena of UX people and be adopted by marketing and advertising folks > as > > well > > > > On Thu, Oct 16, 2008 at 11:37 AM, Michael Micheletti < > > [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > > -- > ---------------------------------------------- > Steve 'Doc' Baty B.Sc (Maths), M.EC, MBA > Principal Consultant > Meld Consulting > M: +61 417 061 292 > E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > UX Statistics: http://uxstats.blogspot.com > > Member, UPA - www.upassoc.org > Member, IA Institute - www.iainstitute.org > Member, IxDA - www.ixda.org > Contributor - UXMatters - www.uxmatters.com > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
