Saturday, January 14, 2006
Dr. Phil = bogus?
Online Dating Service Teams Up With Dr. Phil
By JULIE BOSMAN
IF there is still any stigma attached to online dating, Match.com is hoping to eradicate it by enlisting a spokesman whose first name alone evokes recognition in mainstream America.
Dr. Phil McGraw, the nation's most visible self-help specialist and relationship guru (sorry, Dr. Ruth), has just been hired as Match's first celebrity spokesman. Dr. McGraw, a self-described life strategist who offers folksy advice on his syndicated daytime talk show, will star in an advertising campaign for Match that will have its debut on Sunday.
The campaign will promote "MindFindBind," a Match interactive program introduced this week that leads users through the dating process with self-help questionnaires and video pep talks from Dr. McGraw.
Match, the leader in online dating services, began in 1995 and says it has more than 1.2 million paid subscribers. The new campaign carries the tagline, "We'll show you who. He'll show you how."
Taken from the NY Times, January 13, 2006 (for full article, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/13/business/media/13adco.html?pagewanted=print )
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Is it just me, or is this Dr. Phil phenomenon getting out of hand? I'm really rather skeptical about this guy's credentials, to be honest. I think the whole "fat guru" period of his really soured me on this guy.
(For those who are unfamiliar with things, Dr. Phil came out with a weight-loss reduction program. What the heck is a relationship guru doing with a weight-loss program? The guy isn't exactly looking like an Olympic athlete either, if you know what I'm saying, and now he's trying to tell people how to lose weight???)
Does his advice even work? Does anyone know? Anybody reading this actually benefit from him?
I guess I'm just incredibly suspicious of folks who get too commercialized... especially when they team up with an online dating service. Wow. What credibility. :)
By JULIE BOSMAN
IF there is still any stigma attached to online dating, Match.com is hoping to eradicate it by enlisting a spokesman whose first name alone evokes recognition in mainstream America.
Dr. Phil McGraw, the nation's most visible self-help specialist and relationship guru (sorry, Dr. Ruth), has just been hired as Match's first celebrity spokesman. Dr. McGraw, a self-described life strategist who offers folksy advice on his syndicated daytime talk show, will star in an advertising campaign for Match that will have its debut on Sunday.
The campaign will promote "MindFindBind," a Match interactive program introduced this week that leads users through the dating process with self-help questionnaires and video pep talks from Dr. McGraw.
Match, the leader in online dating services, began in 1995 and says it has more than 1.2 million paid subscribers. The new campaign carries the tagline, "We'll show you who. He'll show you how."
Taken from the NY Times, January 13, 2006 (for full article, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/13/business/media/13adco.html?pagewanted=print )
* * * * *
Is it just me, or is this Dr. Phil phenomenon getting out of hand? I'm really rather skeptical about this guy's credentials, to be honest. I think the whole "fat guru" period of his really soured me on this guy.
(For those who are unfamiliar with things, Dr. Phil came out with a weight-loss reduction program. What the heck is a relationship guru doing with a weight-loss program? The guy isn't exactly looking like an Olympic athlete either, if you know what I'm saying, and now he's trying to tell people how to lose weight???)
Does his advice even work? Does anyone know? Anybody reading this actually benefit from him?
I guess I'm just incredibly suspicious of folks who get too commercialized... especially when they team up with an online dating service. Wow. What credibility. :)
