“The names and faces of technology are struggling to get through to Brits, a survey by Lewis PR has suggested,” Elizabeth Fish reports for The Next Web.
“The casual survey took opinions from 1000 Britons from across the country, and the results were pretty staggering. Of the 1000 surveyed, 20% did not know who Apple CEO Steve Jobs was, with 10% thinking he was a Trade Union worker and 20% even believing he was a footballer,” Fish reports.
“Although more people knew who Bill Gates was, 5% of people believed he was either a comedian, or even one of the Great Train robbers of the 60’s. According to 5%, internet founder Sir Tim Berners-Lee was the first astronaut in space,” Fish reports.
Video of some of the responses:
Direct link via YouTube here.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If it’s any consolation, Brits, it’d likely be even worse in many other countries.
MacDailyNews Note: Today is Martin Luther King Day, a U.S. federal holiday. The markets are closed today in the U.S. and many people have the day off. Consequently, we expect news to be light, although we do hope to bring you Apple-related news throughout the day.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Brawndo Drinker” for the heads up.]
Midfielder I think.
Martin Luther King? Is he the boxing promoter with the big hair?
whatever. its technology, so obviously asking random people on the street, in another country, is not hugely relevant. does that mean brits don’t like “technology” like, say, electricity? Yeah sure.
from this they extrapolate the headline? meh.
Guess what: North Americans don’t “follow” the names and faces of soccer. Moving along.
If it wasn’t for beckham’s smoking hot wife I wouldn’t know who he is.
Loool the French and American ladies in the vid didn’t do much better
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
LOL…Loved that last fella!
only 5% knew that Bill Gates is a comedian ?!?
He may play soccer / football; you never know… We could use his sports strategies to figure-out upcoming products. Come on; it’s less crazy than some of the conjecture people come up with.
In England, there are few whose recognition rises to that of “footballer”. While the game of “football” is significantly different over here, how many CEOs rise to the recognition level of Tom Brady or ANY of the quarterbacks still playing as of last Friday morning? Or, even a few others – like Brady – who were retired at least a week before. Most Senators/MPs never reach that status.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
Consider this an “upgrade” for Mr. Jobs. He has his adoring followers in the US and his recognition in Blighty. Almost as good as being a rock star!
All jokes aside. I would personally like to thank Dr. King for his dedication to what he felt was important in life. If more people took their short period of life as seriously as Dr. King did, things would certainly seem brighter for our world and our future.
I would hate to see the stats in Canada or the US….probably worse than the Brits.
What they didn’t ask was, who made the iPod. They’d say it’s a south Londoner called Jonny Ive.
I like that babe who came in at 1:23. I’d certainly like to work on her..ahem… education with her.
Don’t be so stupid Mike Caine.
He’s the guy who writes those horror books.
The other 80% recognized a Ballmer as a type of beluga whale.
That American chick was by far the hottest.
The ones who think Bill Gates was one of the Great Train robbers are not far off the mark.
During a TV general knowledge show a female contestant was asked where she would find Rio De Janerio.
Her reply was, Manchester United Football Club.
The only Rio she had ever heard of was Rio Ferdinand who plays for MUFC.
“If any one of those has anything to do with this internet or e-mail, tick THAT one.”
Best response ever.
In all fairness, there is no way that this random street poll would have fared any better in any major city anywhere in the world. Most of the questions are rather obscure for vast majority of general population (“What is a wireless dongle?” Come on, please!). Tim Berners Lee? While I can see how majority on THIS particular forum may have heard of him and know what he did, outside of our small, dedicated group, nobody has a clue. About the only one that should raise an eyebrow is the one about social networking sites. You’d expect that sub-40 crowd should be familiar with facebook and ALSO know what kind of a site that is.
This little video seems like a nice holiday filler, without too much substance or value…
blah blah blah, “If it wasn’t for beckham’s smoking hot wife I wouldn’t know who he is.”
You’re SOOO sarcastic. She’s so bony she’d cut you to death if you slept with her. Maybe that’s why Becks has so much energy on the pitch.
@ Cubert.. agreed. Unfortunately she was the dumbest of the lot.
Not that it really matters…
@DLMeyer
“Almost as good as being a rock star! “
Except for one huge difference…
Steve Jobs has actual talent!
I am a Brit, and I am sorry to say we are the most ignorant and ill educated people in Europe, not counting the Greeks and old Europe. In European exam league tables Britain regularly and consistently ranks at the bottom along with Greece. Our articulation in our native tongue is inferior to the Dutch or Scandinavians in their second language. All in all this result does not surprise me. We are a shabby lot. With exceptions
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
I doubt if anyone can top Americans for being ignorant in general on all topics. I always got a kick out of Jay Leno’s Jaywalking skits.
One of my favorites was when he asked a girl how many stars were on the American flag on a nearby flagpole. Her reply was “It’s movin’ too fast to count ’em.” Classic!
http://www.webtvhub.com/funny-the-best-of-jay-walking-video-leno-shows-us-education-fail/