QR Codes – oh no!
While searching and researching QR Codes, for an eBook I might write, I found this video. I thought / hoped it would be a good resource to link and share … but was sorely disappointed.
Called ’37 Examples of using QR Codes’ it could have been so good – showing innovate ways a QR Code can be used for different purposes: medical, arts, marketing, education, etc. What it turned out to be was just 37 places you can put a QR Code, and some of the actual codes are awful. While it could be a viewed as good introduction to ‘where’ to put a code, it does nothing to help or describe what code could be used for, hence my disappointment at the title that clearly states ‘using QR Codes’.
YouTube: 37 Examples of using QR Codes
Examples from the video and why I’m critical … QR Code on a:
- Dog sweater? When does a dog stand still long enough for a stranger to scan its back?
- Tattoo? Do you anyone well enough to ask to scan their arm, back, or chest? If you do then you probably already know what the tattoo is for or about.
- Biscuit / Cookie? Yeah, OK, you’ve got me there. I’ve done it and would do it again for marketing/brand awareness.
- Magazine? Yes, but the video does not say in what context – is it for a mobile marketing campaign, online store, discount voucher, etc.?
- Business Card? Not only is that example really poor, it’s more about what the code will direct you to instead of where you put it … vCard, introductory video, website, contact form, phone number, etc.?
- Vegetable? No, that’s not on the vegetable, it’s on the packaging.
- Window advert? Yes, but why (see above).
It is precisely this kind of approach that has made, or is still making, QR Codes a has-been technology – explain why I should want to put a QR Code on a poster not how – I can leave that up to the printing company to put it in the ad. Explain the context of the code and what the scanner can expect to do with the information next.
This video should really be ’37 places to put a QR Code’ – now I’m happy.
Sorry, rant over.
