Bob Spour exposed in The Sun

[GrahamB]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... fraud.html

We'd all heard this was coming, but here it is. Damn...

[RobP2]

You know as despicable as it all is in some ways I don't blame him and Grannon. They gave people what they wanted, classic NLP rapport work, establish a persona, be it SAS guy, doorman, whatever, that your target audience can relate to / aspire to, tell them what they want to hear, punt out some fairly average work spiced up with agression and "no-nonsense", a nice short term fix for the problem and off you go.

Like I said, despicable, but that's modern marketing methods for you

[GrahamB]

I guess it's also like when a religious guru turns out to have been all too human and is an alcoholic, or has been sleeping with his female followers on the side. Hey guess what - they're only human!

It's human nature to project unrealistic expectations onto people and want to dissolve all our responsibility onto them... it's occasionally 'good' for us to have our illusions shattered, I think.

But there's also the issue of any potential fraud involved - lying through false advertising and taking money based on those lies, which could potentially be breaking a law.

[Ian]

one thing about marketing and branding, especially branding yourself, is to never sacrifice your reputation for short-term gain. your reputation is priceless.

why not just be honest? honesty and being yourself shows and people will come. ironically, more people will follow you if you're honest about your limitations than if you lie about them.

[RobP2]

Absolutely - and I in no way condone what they have done, especially riding on the reputations of people who served.

As far as honesty goes - well perhaps saying here's a hodge-podge of bits and pieces I gathered from here and there wouldn't sell many DVDs

You now how it is - for somemthing to really sell mainstream it has to be "sexed up" in some way other and offer an instant solution. It's also true that people dupe themselves in their search for a guru, sifu, master, RBSD expert or whatever. Any material that challenges peoples existing conceptions or actually promotes. you know, hard work, is unlikely to be flying out of the door

[yusuf]

was his stuff any good? I heard he studied Muay Thai and Silat...

[RobP2]

I read his MT credentials are under review too so I don't know. The "SAS" stuff I saw looked like basic combatives with added testosterone

[Ian]

As far as honesty goes - well perhaps saying here's a hodge-podge of bits and pieces I gathered from here and there wouldn't sell many DVDs

True, but I'd have a lot of respect for someone who says "I'm not an ex-soldier, I haven't worked the doors, I'm not a bodyguard, I'm just a hobbyist. A damned good hobbyist, but caveat emptor. Anyway, here's my stuff - see for yourself" and just had a lot of examples of his (evidently functional) material. Maybe in an MMA setting or whatever.

I'd find that refreshing and wouldn't think any less of him.

IMO the term "expert" is nebulous media-speak.

[Steve James]

Generally, if a person will lie about something like that, the rest of his information will also be suspect. He should be ashamed; but, he had to be nuts to put himself on tv.

[Darth Rock&Roll]

what? a lying poser on tv? well! I never!!!

[Strange]

wah this is good...

[cerebus]

For some reason the title of this thread had me thinking of Sponge Bob soaked with sour milk lying under the hot sun in a desert, hence my reluctance to look.... is that weird?