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Was NBC’s The Office Correct in its Portrayal of Bloggers?

Was NBC’s The Office Correct in its Portrayal of Bloggers?

If you don’t watch NBC’s The Office—well you should. If not for the hilariousness, you should at least watch it for the many life lessons. Just a few weeks ago one of the main characters was opening a store with new electronics (very similar to Apple products), and it was all about the bloggers. For the intense hopeful Vice President of the company, Dwight Schrute, the most important people to impress were the bloggers. If the bloggers didn’t find the device appealing, the store wasn’t going to succeed. According to Schrute, “[b]loggers are gross. Bloggers are obese. Bloggers have halitosis. You’re gonna love them.”

For the sake of a TV show there was obviously some elaboration, but this led me to wonder: What do people really think about bloggers? According to this TV show, there are a few things that were made clear:

  • Some bloggers look like what most people would call a “hipster.” Schrute even decided to have one of their employees dress like a hipster and flirt with the bloggers to make sure that they were interested in the product. She spent her day wearing thick rimmed glasses, a top hat, and talking about Zooey Deschanel.
  • Bloggers all love technology. They never go anywhere without their phones or computers, and they know how to work them.
  • Bloggers have power when it comes to a young demographic. Young people today love technology and they love blogging. If you can get a blogger to praise your product, you will get more publicity amongst the “social awkward cool” crowd of 20 somethings.
  • On that same note, they have power when they’re online, but not so much when they leave their computers. Bloggers typically stay inside and write.

Although one of the employees was spotted by a blogger using a different phone than the one they were selling, the grand opening seemed to go well. The store was closed one episode later, but nonetheless the flashy presentation and hipster eye-candy seemed to work.

NBC’s The Office Gives Insight Regarding Bloggers

The more I analyzed some of the things mentioned in the episode, the more I realized there was a slight clash. There are apparently the hipster bloggers who are cool because they are so-not-mainstream, and then there are the nerdy bloggers who stay inside on their computers all day.

Now you and I know that all bloggers do not fit into one of these categories, and I do believe that The Office was only trying to be funny (and it worked). Nonetheless, it’s interesting to consider what others think when I say I’m a blogger. Do people really buy into these stereotypes? Even worse, am I the one who is missing something because I don’t look like a hipster or act like an Internet-obsessed blob?

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You can watch the full episode at NBC.com until April 20, 2012.

Photo Credit: nbc.com

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to workers compensation. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including business credit cards to small businesses and entrepreneurs for the leading business directory, Business.com.

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