Driving back from my daughter’s school this afternoon I saw someone carrying a bag with the message I [HEART] GEEKS. (This sort of thing)

This does make me wonder about life, philosophy and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (not to mention Sabrina the Teenage Witch) – but more of that in a moment.

A recent post on another NN blog has caused a lot of interest and discussion, both of the use of viral marketing in scientific advertising, but also of the image that scientists have in society and their depiction as being humourless.

Why Buffy et al? My main source of information on US teen culture is through shows like this. And the general feeling I get from them is that the popular people (e.g. cheerleaders) are nasty, heartless, self-obsessed and cold, while the geeks (e.g. Buffy’s scoobies and the science club in Sabrina) are nice people and generally the good guys.

Yet this is totally the reverse of the classic image of a geek as a sociably incapable loser.

Which brings me back to that bag I saw. Was it ironic? Is my in-depth US socialogical study flawed? Or have scientists not got that bad image after all?

Yours,
Puzzled of Geekville

PS – Disclaimer – I only know about Sabrina because I used to watch it with my then pre-teen daughters.