Halo Effect vs. the Reverse-Midas Effect

Business School-Minded folks will point at Apple and the success of the iPod & iPhone and will remark on how it drove sales of their other products as a result.  This is called "The Halo Effect".

It occurred to me while having multiple conversations recently about Google Glass than the general consensus amongst the tech crowd is that just about everyone would be far more comfortable using something like Google Glass if it didn't come from Google.

That doesn't exactly say much for the 4 color brand that has dominated internet commerce in the last decade.

Between bullying everyone into creating a Google+ account and being featured prominently in the Edward Snowden revelations, Google has a lot of public relations issues to live down.

The "Reverse-Midas Effect" is the logical converse of the Halo Effect.  It references the fable of King Midas who was gifted/cursed with the ability to turn anything that he touched into gold.  By doing the reverse, we refer to the idea of everything that you touch turning into shit.

Google still provides decent products (like this free blog for example, which they have in fact made worse) - but I'm not going to accuse them in the same way that I would hurl rocks at Microsoft.

But I am going to point out that something stinks and the "image" of Google could use some incense & potpurri.