CHICAGO — Anything made by McDonald’s tastes better, preschoolers said in a study that powerfully demonstrates how advertising can trick the taste buds of young children.

Even carrots, milk and apple juice tasted better to the kids if it was wrapped in the familiar packaging of the Golden Arches.

The study had youngsters sample identical McDonald’s foods in name-brand or unmarked wrappers. The unmarked foods always lost the taste test.

Yes, you say, this study was about the influence of marketing on toddlers. We are not toddlers. We are adults and we are above such things.

Are we?

Let’s say you are in a meeting. Joe, the intern has an idea. Everyone immediately rejects the idea. Two days later, Karen the VP makes the same suggestion. Suddenly it’s the best thing since sliced bread and everyone is immediately on board.

It’s not the idea that changed, it was the wrapper.

Companies hire consulting firms to tell them things that their people have been screaming about for years. Sr. Management doesn’t listen when it is Jose from accounting and Linda in accounts receivable, but when it’s Steve from Big Named Consulting Firm that interviews Jose and Linda and reports the information back, suddenly it’s believable and actionable.

Why do we do this? Well, there are some good reasons and some bad reasons.

Good reason is that Joe, the intern, is an unknown quantity. He doesn’t have a great deal of experience (he’s an intern, after all), while Karen is a VP and your boss’s boss. She wouldn’t have gotten to that position if she didn’t have great ideas. Right? Of course, it doesn’t hurt your career to suck up to Karen and championing the ideas of Joe the intern could hurt you if other people aren’t on board.

But what about Steve, our consultant. Do you know who consulting firms hire? People straight out of school. Joe is straight out of school as well. But, we listen to Steve the consultant because he has the title and the backing and the resources.

Those resources are helpful. But, it would be cheaper to ask Jose and Linda who do the job what problems they see and what potential solutions they think are possible. If you get nothing back, then it’s time to spend money to hire someone. But, if you do and you ignore it, just know that there’s a pretty good chance you’ll get the same answer back from your expensive consultant.

The difference? Instead of an e-mail with 3 bullet points from some chic named Linda in accounts payable, you get a fancy power point presentation from a guy in a suit. Same hamburger, different wrapper.

Now, I’m not arguing that the intern’s ideas are always as good as the VPs. And I’m not arguing that the highly paid consultant is just repeating back what the accounts payable clerk said. What I’m arguing is that by only looking at the wrapper the idea comes in, you can end up missing some pretty good hamburgers and choking down some that don’t taste so great.

Evaluate ideas on their merit. Listen to people who actually do the job. You might be surprised.

The post What’s in a Wrapper, er, Title appeared first on Improve Your HR.

I have an extremely ambiguous position and non fitting job title. And I’m looking for a new job. I read in a previous post that it’s your company policy to only disclose title and dates. Due to this, issue I am altering my title to reflect the tasks applicable to the job I am applying for. (interactive marketing specialist when applying for an interactive marketing role). I don’t lie about the actual role or what I accomplished, but just the title. I don’t want to talk to HR or my boss about changing it, because I fear that they will see no real need for me and fire me.

1. Is this a common practice? What is the law on HR disclosing information about previous employees?
2. If a potential employer finds out about this, what are the chances that I will have a chance to explain?

Thank you!

p.s. I love the blog. It’s insanely informative!

Titles are a funny thing. I once had the title, Functional Lead. What in the heck does that mean? Really. I could never place it on salary surveys. I hated putting it on my resume because it meant nothing.

On the other hand, when my husband was only 1.5 years out of school he got a job offer with an advertising agency. His proposed title? AVP. Wow, you are all saying, impressive to be an Assistant Vice President only 1.5 years out of school! Except that because it was an advertising agency everyone’s title was inflated because clients don’t want to meet with a junior person.

When I worked for a very small company the Sr. Vice Presidents all made between $60,000 and $70,000 per year. Now that I work for a Fortune 500 company the Sr. Vice Presidents make—well, lets just say a lot more than that.

My point on all of this? Titles don’t matter as much as you think they do. Granted, it’s an easy way to figure out what someone did at a quick glance but any competent recruiter will know to look beyond title.

My standard reply is don’t lie. It can only lead to trouble.

However, titles in systems (what a call to HR would verify) are not necessarily what is on your business card. For instance, 3 people may have the identical title of Director, Marketing. Those three people may have on their business cards, Director, New Product Marketing; Director, Market Research; and Director, Marketing Acquisitions. It would not be lying for these three to put this title on their resumes.

The question to ask yourself is, “if they called my current boss to verify my title and they read off what I have on my resume, would he say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ If it’s no, then don’t do it.

You said, as an example that you used the title “interactive marketing specialist,” but you didn’t specify what your true title was. If it’s “marketing specialist” then you are okay. If it’s “specialist” then it’s okay. If it’s “Accountant”, then you are not okay. If it is “Accountant,” I would write on your resume. Accountant (interactive marketing specialist) 2003-Present.

Now, as to answer the explicit questions you asked.

1. There is no law saying what can and cannot be disclosed, but there are things most companies will and will not do. SHRM encourages companies to relay information about the person’s performance–things that are documented that is. And while most companies have explicit policies on what can and cannot be shared by HR, most reference checkers are going to be calling your former boss anyway and it’s doubtful he cares what the rules are.

2. Anytime you need to ask the question “what bad thing will happen if I do this?” you should rethink doing it. If I feel like you’ve lied you won’t get the job and you’ll probably get fired.

Unless your boss and HR are extremely vindictive and looking out for a reason to fire you, I don’t understand why going to them about a potential title change would result in ill feelings. I would approach it this way. “Bob, you know, my title is Accountant and I haven’t done any accounting in years. I’m really more of an interactive marketing specialist. Would it be possible to update my title to reflect that?”

If you really feel like you’d get fired for that, then don’t, but otherwise, what do you have to lose?

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