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I had a look at the website (specialname.cn for those interested), and one thing that stood out is that she's definitely trying to hide the fact that it was fou
by imron 10y ago
I had a look at the website (specialname.cn for those interested), and one thing that stood out is that she's definitely trying to hide the fact that it was founded by a 16 year old girl.
Normally, I'd say there's nothing wrong with that and also absolutely no need to mention it, but in this case she's specifically misleading people who visit the site.
Scroll down to the bottom (or view the about-us page - http://www.specialname.cn/about-us/ http://www.specialname.cn/about-us/) and compare the picture there to picture in the bbc article. One of those pictures is not like the other.
The blurb is then even more misleading - saying she's been visiting China regularly for the last 12 years and is often asked by colleagues to give English names for Chinese babies.
Now, given her father's business, I'm sure it's quite likely that she's been visiting China for 12 years, but I'm pretty sure she didn't have many colleagues when she was 4 years old.
Mad props to her for setting up a site like this, and I can see the reasons for wanting to bend the truth with her background, but it just rankles a little to see this being done.
- kirubakaran 10y agoWhy does that rankle you? People are biased and you have to work with that. This is no different than one person companies using the royal "we" in the website copy.
- bshimmin 10y agoI think there's a difference between a solo freelancer saying "we" and said freelancer presenting a picture of some random people in a random office as "his team".
- ksk 10y agoHow have you established that they're random people?
- imron 10y agoReverse image search: http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-160492445/stock-photo-portrait-of-a-smiling-mature-female-student-at-desk-against-bookshelves-in-the-library.html?src=fAN1L3wX9vKY63BAa-9O6g-1-14 http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-160492445/stock-photo-portra... Plus the text says "I'm Beau Rose Jessup the CEO and Founder of Special Name", which is clearly not the case if you look at the BBC article.
- bshimmin 10y agoIn this specific case? Well, it's a stock photo: https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-female-mature-student-holding-her-tablet-posing-stairs-smiling-camera-image35781709 https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-female-...
- ksk 10y agoAh, I see, yeah that is pretty dishonest.
- imron 10y agoI think it's far beyond a royal "we", and in fact I would even argue that a royal "we" is acceptable usage for a company to use - even it's only a single person company. It's in a whole other league to say this is me and this is my team, and this is my history, when it's not. I'm not sure if you read Chinese, and maybe that's why it's harder to tell the difference between "we" and this. It's not just the picture, the blurb provided is misleading at best and false at worse. Yes, people are biased, but this is a situation in which there was no need to be misleading in the first place. She could just have easily written some respectable copy without needing to resort to deception, and so it rankles me she chose to be misleading when there was no need to be.
- kirubakaran 10y agoI see. You're right, I don't know Chinese and I didn't realize she was claiming that the people in that photo were her team.
- imron 10y agoShe never explicitly says this 'this is a photo of me and my team', however a Chinese reader with no other context would make that as the natural assumption. It says stuff like 'under the supervision and guidance of our CEO and Founder Beau Rose Jessup, our team of experts will analyze the characteristics you're looking for in a name and blah blah blah'. Then there's a single shot of the same woman with text that begins "I am Beau Rose Jessup the founder and CEO of Simple Name" and then goes on to detail her 12 year history of visiting China. It's very heavily implied that these are the people behind the site.
- thesmallestcat 10y ago.
- imron 10y agoI get that age discrimination is a thing. The thing is, for this sort of website there's no need for this to even come up. I'm sure they could have written copy and/or used pictures that gave an air of respectability without needing to actively mislead.
- cLeEOGPw 10y agoYou are in no position to criticize someone who is successful. Nobody can say for sure what would have happened if they didn't do what they did. Your passive aggressive tone just reads like you are hiding your own insecurity about some 16 year old girl being more successful in an area you are trying to get successful for many years.
- imron 10y agoI'm not sure which parts of my posts you think are passive aggressive. No insecurities on my behalf, and I'm happy for her success, but success does not automatically give someone a free pass on criticism. The criticisms I have made also all stand on their own regardless of my or her respective successes.
- codyZ 10y agoFair point, though there's no way that her site would have taken off without the misleading blurb. In an essentially culturally Confucian China, the task of naming a child is commonly relegated to the most senior/elderly person in the family, then education, then preference. No matter how well marketed the site may be, its doubtful it would have taken off if she stated her age honestly.
- imron 10y agoThe thing is, she doesn't need to state her age, and she doesn't need to mislead people either. There's plenty of alternative copy she could have used to give an air of respectability but didn't.
- leephillips 10y agoI can't read the text on the site, but these pictures might have the same function as stock images on other sites that happen to show people; you're not supposed to believe that these people actually work for the company. Unless the text claims that these are actual pictures of the people involved... But something else doesn't add up. The 60p fee includes printing two certificates on paper, and shipping them to China? Or contracting with a print shop in China and arranging for mailing? Perhaps when the article mentions "made £48,000", that's gross revenue?
- imron 10y agoA reverse image search shows they are stock images, but Chinese text implies that this is a picture of the founder and that is her team e.g. it starts with "I'm Beau Rose Jessup the Founder and CEO of Special Name". > But something else doesn't add up. The 60p fee includes printing two certificates on paper The 60p fee appears to be a mistake in the article. If you put in an order, you're taken to a checkout and the cost is 68 RMB, (about £7-8 or USD$10).
- verroq 10y ago>我是英国Special Name 公司的CEO和创始人-Beau Rose Jessup。在过去的12年中，我经常到访中国。每当我在中国的时候，经常会被同事要求帮他们和他们的孩子取一个特别的英文名。 It literally says that she's been visiting China for the last twelve years and every time she goes to China her coworkers would asking her for English baby names. It is quite clearly suppose to let the reader think that Beau is the middle aged woman in the stock photo.
- imron 10y agoYep.