Here is a direct quote from a recent news story: “A survey of 2,000 adults explored their cleaning habits and found that the average person spends over five hours a week scrubbing, washing, and dusting their home.”
The “average” person does that? Really? This news story claims the average American adult spends five-and-a-half hours each week cleaning his or her home. So, in a typical household with a husband and wife, a full 11 hours of cleaning is done each week? Nah, I’m not buying that. Something is odd here.
So, instead of reading only the headline and first paragraph, I decided to do something out of the ordinary since I had a few spare minutes: I read the entire news story. It turns out the survey was not exactly random, since it had a “double opt-in” format. This means the people who answered questions first had to go through two levels of online scrutiny. In other words, the folks who took the survey REALLY wanted to express their views about home cleaning.
So, instead of reading only the headline and first paragraph, I decided to do something out of the ordinary since I had a few spare minutes: I read the entire news story. It turns out the survey was not exactly random, since it had a “double opt-in” format. This means the people who answered questions first had to go through two levels of online scrutiny. In other words, the folks who took the survey REALLY wanted to express their views about home cleaning.
Here are some of the other findings of this study:
- 32 percent of respondents said they do not like cleaning. (Only 32%? This figure should be closer to 100%. In other words, two-thirds of the people who took the survey LIKE to clean. See, I told you it wasn’t random.)
- 26 percent said they have missed out on social events because they needed to stay home and clean instead. (OK, now we’re starting to get a better understanding of the people who took this survey. Right, the term “neat freak” popped into my head, too.)
- On average, respondents said they start cleaning three days before they have guests over for the holidays, while one in seven survey takers start cleaning at least a week in advance. (Yup, definitely neat freaks.)
- 39 percent of survey respondents claim that they show up early to events they’re not hosting to help the host clean. (No doubt about it. These folks are all members of the Felix Unger Fan Club.)
By now, you’re probably wondering what the point is of this survey and news story. That’s what I was wondering about halfway through the article. Then I read this sentence: “Half of the respondents said they would be interested in having help with cleaning from a professional if it would help free up their time.”
The next paragraph contained the “money quote.” Raychel Leong-Sullins had this to say: “Professional cleaning helps to free up time for people to have fun building memories with friends and family rather than focusing on the dreaded task of cleaning up before and after events.”
Who is Ms. Leong-Sullins, you ask? She just happens to be the president of Maid Brigade, a house cleaning franchise company.
You might also be wondering who commissioned this scientific survey? Well, lookee here, it happens to be the Maid Brigade firm.
Oh, and who wrote a press release in the format of a news story, and then paid to have it appear all over the Internet? None other than the marketing department at Maid Brigade.
The next paragraph contained the “money quote.” Raychel Leong-Sullins had this to say: “Professional cleaning helps to free up time for people to have fun building memories with friends and family rather than focusing on the dreaded task of cleaning up before and after events.”
Who is Ms. Leong-Sullins, you ask? She just happens to be the president of Maid Brigade, a house cleaning franchise company.
You might also be wondering who commissioned this scientific survey? Well, lookee here, it happens to be the Maid Brigade firm.
Oh, and who wrote a press release in the format of a news story, and then paid to have it appear all over the Internet? None other than the marketing department at Maid Brigade.
To be honest, I’m kind of impressed with Maid Brigade’s business acumen. I bet this advertising campaign masquerading as a news story will generate a lot of new customers for the company’s franchisees.
On the other hand, this story has me very concerned. If this faux news story makes the claim that the average American adult does 5-1/2 hours of house cleaning each week, someone I know might see the story. Then this particular someone might say to me, “You’re about 5 hours and 27 minutes below average, dear.”
To get my average up, I might have to call those Maid Brigade people.
On the other hand, this story has me very concerned. If this faux news story makes the claim that the average American adult does 5-1/2 hours of house cleaning each week, someone I know might see the story. Then this particular someone might say to me, “You’re about 5 hours and 27 minutes below average, dear.”
To get my average up, I might have to call those Maid Brigade people.
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