Way back in the day, it seemed that people including famous people did just one thing – they were a mechanic, or a doctor, or a nationally recognized TV talk show host. And that was it. But the world’s gotten smaller and the lines are blurring and vanishing.
For the most part, this is good. I’m all for stepping out and crossing lines. After all, most inventors are people with day jobs that tackle their inventions at night and on weekends, with aim to solve problems and challenges they face every day... and the world's a fundamentally better place because they crossed those lines.
But the line crossing is now going too far! What leads me here? Well, the Consumer Electronics Show is rapidly approaching – in case you don’t know it, this annual January show is THE show for just about all cool things you’d want to plug in at home – and I just read that it’s going to be Celebrity Central with a famed mix including:
- Singer Stevie "I Just Called to Say I Love Your New Smartphone" Wonder
- Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek
- Star athletes “Big Papi” Ortiz (Red Sox) and Joba Chamberlain (Yankees)
- Oprah’s on-air doc, Dr. Oz
- and just about the entire NBC News team, including the Today show gang, Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, and CNBC's Maria Bartiromo
I am not excited to see the celebs descending upon CES. In fact, I’m exasperated to think these folks will be distracting and diluting the goodness of the show. Let singers become actors, and baseball players become TV commentators… but let’s let the electronics shine at CES! If I want to watch Big Papi, I’ll watch him on my TV... not hyping new TVs or drawing throngs that prevent me from checking out the latest new TVs. Because when it comes to CES, nothing’s hotter than that new TV, that inventive new touch-screen device, and that breakthrough laptop with true surround sound?
Are you with me in my quest to stop the CES celebrities? Do you agree we should keep power hitters separate from power buttons? Who should we call to…?
BTW, a shameless but lucrative plug – AbsolutelyNew can still potentially showcase your invention at CES… so definitely contact us quickly if it’s where you’d like to be.