Good Morning America’s Clip on Virtual Assistants

or better titled:

I just wrote an incredibly long piece on this clip, describing how GMA did NOT capture the essence of what real virtual assistants do, going into great detail about how VA’s do it better than what they showed, but every time I looked at it, I couldn’t help thinking that I was being just a bit snarky.

So I waited a day and tried to rewrite it.  Still didn’t like the essence of it.

I’ve narrowed it down to this:

Dear Good Morning America:

Way to NOT capture what real Virtual Assistants do and bundle the term “Virtual Assistants” to 3 cheap companies that didn’t do a good job.  (of course they didn’t – what do you want for $2?)

OK – feel myself getting snarky again.  I’ll end with:  I’m just hoping people won’t judge all VA’s by that clip and not find out more about what we really do.

It’s always disappointing when the media doesn’t do a good job, isn’t it?  Shame on you, George!!

Nickey Hollenbach

Personal Touch Concierge Service, LLC

www.ptconciergeservice.com

Women in Business – and Media

Not too long ago

I was asked to give my opinion on how women are portrayed in media.  Perfect question for me since I have very strong opinions on the subject.  My current opinions are how I’ve always felt, by the way, even as a teenager.  Don’t think I thought about it at all before then, or maybe it’s because commercials weren’t as sexual when I was growing up.

Being a mature woman now, well into my 40’s, some people are likely to put it down to my age – I’m prudish or whatever (which is enough to make me wet myself laughing!).  No, it’s like Andy Rooney was supposed to have said about women in their 40’s – we have come to love ourselves and have complete confidence in what we do and say. (He didn’t actually write “In Praise of Older Women,” btw)

I’ve heard all too often that women who don’t appreciate the “sex” approach to women in commercials weren’t attractive girls nor sexual in their lives, or at least aren’t any more.  Maybe I’ve always been a little “different,” shall we say (no details today, folks).  I believe I was fairly attractive throughout my life – I was never jealous of those women with the way-too-sprayed hair and caked-on makeup.  I just always wondered why women wouldn’t want to be showing more of their  intelligent side in commercials and thus showing the world of men that we are intelligent.  Will that not sell product to other intelligent women?

I thought that maybe these girls “weren’t so smart”

so they got stuck having to show off their bodies like that on TV/print ads for every perv to stare at.  I didn’t feel jealousy – I felt pity and empathy for them.  And also a little bit of anger for them allowing people (I mean mostly men here) to think of women as just what they were portraying.

I remember once being at a conference

where we had a booth on a new device which was along the lines of a coulter counter (which counts the particle size of blood). Our booth was about a particle size analysis device from Japan which we were trying sell.  It used Stokes’ Law as the principle of suspending particles in a certain medium, depending upon the material, and then measuring the particles as gravity (or the centrifuge) pulled them down.  ANYWAY, there I stood, dressed as a businesswoman did in the early 80’s with a conservative skirt and blouse.  Do you know how many men came on to me?  Asked me if I was the eye candy to bring in the people?  But I kept my cool, smiling and then trying to explain the way our device worked.  It was rather amusing to  see their faces change as they realized – hey!  this chick’s got a brain!  But to their defense, there WERE a lot of booths that had “eye candy” to bring the men in.  (What does that say about the men, I wonder?)

My point:

I don’t think women who have allowed themselves to be portrayed as mere sex objects or “silly” women on TV/print ads have done us any favors – women in business, that is.  As I pointed out in the article, it seems to me the “real” women are seen more often in ED commercials for Levitra or Viagra.

Huh.

Nickey Hollenbach

Personal Touch Concierge Service, LLC

“Virtual Assistance with a Personal Touch”

info@ptconciergeservice.com