QR Codes Kill Kittens: How to Alienate Customers, Dishearten Employees, and Drive Your Business into the Ground

by Scott Stratten, Alison Kramer

Easy to digest tips and tools on how not to run a business Experts are constantly telling us what we need to be doing to improve our businesses. Hundreds of books in the market are filled with advice from these experts. But how can you filter out all of the bad advice, misinformation, and misuse of business tools that is out there? None of us needs another list of what we should be doing. QR Codes Kill Kittens tells you what not to do. Easy to digest, easy to avoid. The book is separated into several sections, and each will include a story related to the topic in addition to tips and explanations on what not to do. It doesn't do you any good to do a few things right and a lot of things wrong. Find out what not to do. If reading this book saves just one kitten's life, it's worth it.

Genres: Nonfiction, Business, Humor, Social Media, Technology, Adult

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the words of the inside cover "It's a freaking picture book; you either like it or you don't." Well, I've loved all of Scott's books so far and this one was no exception. It's a quick read and a humorous approach to what NOT to do in business.

[Bonnie Zink · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learning and laughter go hand in hand! Stratten uses modern examples to remind us of traditional values. Learn how things can go very wrong in the digital universe when you do before you think.

I highly recommend this and Stratten's other books to anyone working in the digital space.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

QR Codes Kill Kittens is a really light, fast, fun read. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who has any part in social media at their workplace.

Honestly, I wanted to give the book 3.5 stars, but Goodreads forces me to round. While the book is funny and does give you a few good pointers for "don't do's" it is by no means comprehensive. And it doesn't give you the slightest clue how to fix anything if you've accidentally already killed some kittens, so to speak.

The examples in the book are pretty great, and they range from hilarious (the aquarium shop that opened up NEXT DOOR to a seafood restaurant) to head-shakingly stupid (the QR code on a website? how could anyone scan that?) to cringe-worthy (the company that actually tried to advertise on the back of the Hurricane Sandy tragedy).

It's really short, so it's definitely worth your time to pick up and have a giggle at. Just don't look to it for real applicable advice.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

an even easier read than I anticipated. Good for a laugh, hope I remember some of the examples.

[Coca sin cereza · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tremenda mezcla entre posts de Taringa y r/BadDesigns. Igual 2 estrellas por la nostalgia y el humor del 2010

[Avril Polson · Rating 2 out of 5]

All opinions are entirely my own. I am in no way affiliated with the author or publisher. Remember to support your local indie bookstore and library!<\b>

⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨ ᰔ ୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

"They don't work. Nobody likes them.
They are selfish. They take up valuable time better spent elsewhere."<\i>

- [ ] Star Rating: 2 Stars
- [ ] Discovery: Browsing
- [ ] Reading Format: Physical
- [ ] Read Time: 0.5 Hours

Easy to digest tips and tools on how not to run a business or alternatively how to run it into the ground.

This was just a printed buzzfeed article. Considering this is 12 years old that makes a lot of sense. I wouldn't say there were any actual business tips in here, it was more of a haha funny for tech bros.

[Popzara Press · Rating 3 out of 5]

Works best as a handy reference of cautionary “don’t do”s and things to avoid for anyone hoping to ride the social-media craze wave to their own success stories. It’s hardly a comprehensive how-to guide by any means - never forget that Stratten moonlights as president of a successful (un)marketing enterprise - but that’s hardly the point. Chock full of cringe-worthy moments it successfully merges those two universal truths: humor and stupidity.

Codes Kill Kittens Book Review on Popzara

[Sonnet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved it. Very funny and informative. Slightly disagreed with something on p.90: "A Kitten has Died During Your Presentation If... ...Everything you say is on the screen." Granted, when I present, it's not verbatim...but I do like to include the gist of what I'm saying because the presentations are almost always posted to the conference site afterwards. So anyone who couldn't go to my presentation can still get the content later.

[Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's possible this book, which is sort of a cross between a business book and one of those snarky blogs that make fun of poorly-written signs, is my favorite professional book I've ever read. The advice is sound, the illustrations are memorable, and even if you're not in business, it's possible to enjoy the book as pure comedy. I've never given a business book five stars, and I doubt I'll do so again any time soon, but I laughed out loud so many times while reading this that it only felt fair.

[Emily Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This quirky book pokes fun at both everyday and epic marketing fails that left me laughing out loud on the train home from work. Totally tailored for this generation's multitasking brain, this marketing picture book succeeded in firmly holding my attention cover to cover. Page-turning felt more like swiping through a feed of memes and I quickly found myself finished and tweeting for more.

[Christa Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

I knew better than to pick up any book that references QR codes...but there was that kitten...so now I've read the book. I didn't realize the pub date was 2014 when I first checked it out and this was probably great in 2014. Today we know that QR codes are a joke. Anyway, this has lots of examples of bad signs, bad policies and silly stuff that nobody is doing any more...right? Or course all that bad stuff still exists but maybe not as many large QR codes. Still, that kitten is cute.

[Sunny P · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was the first book in a long time to make me laugh out loud. The lessons are a good reminder of what it is to be the gatekeeper of social media for an organization.

Marketers who have been doing this for a while will laugh, while those are new to social media will learn.

[Davidbrown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book sounds like a refreshing take on business advice! Focusing on what not to do is just as valuable as learning the right moves snapseed qr codes. Love the light-hearted approach, and it could definitely help avoid common pitfalls.

[Abbie Miller · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a dumb book. It was a website of marketing and business mistakes printed and bound into a book. I didn’t get anything out of it outside of a few chuckles during a car ride.

[Mima · Rating 3 out of 5]

..023

[Alexander K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read that had me laughing pretty hard. Mostly because I've experienced a few of these but also because I agree with a lot of it.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very humorous book about how the misuse of QR codes can kill a business...and apparently kittens.

[MK · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick, funny read about mistakes companies make with social media.

[Maria Senatore · Rating 4 out of 5]

A picture book, really funny, very quick read. A good collection of technological disasters, good sense of humor.

[María la de Rumanía · Rating 2 out of 5]

está bien, está gracioso, nada del otro mundo pero es una forma rápida y fácil de enseñarte las diferentes formas de cagarla en redes

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hilarious book about a real UX problem.

4/5

[Meran · Rating 1 out of 5]

Most of this advice is obvious and/or tongue in cheek. I think it ay be in picture book form for two reasons: 1. To remind us visually. 2. To make money for the author. More humorous than helpful! And at $18 for a tiny, 196 pg picture book that is mostly a slice show. I'm returning the book to barnes & noble ASAP.

ON pg 109, about not allowing photos: ART is copyrighted. Releasing your own under pixelated version is fine; allowing others to take high quality version photos, as suggested on this page, will enable THEM to STEAL your work is a crime. I can't believe it's suggested by the author.

On pg 115, he uses the word "conversions" - does the author mean "conversations"? It fits better. If conversions is intentional, them the author's own rule about misspelling (pg 62) is broken (or used intentionally for attention.)

Some of the advice could have been better explained instead of using it as an IQ test. Explaining the advice would actually be helpful, not snarky.

Many ideas are duplicated. Good thing they aren't grouped or it'd be obvious (it is anyway. - I should have counted all the "viral" comments. It would make for a drinking game.

This book reminds me of Tosh.O - in book form. And isn't THAT stupid!

About Captcha… it gives extra chances if you can't comprehend the one presented.

On pg 173 - guess who took those 38 weeks to decide on a font? A DESIGNER. Probably those YOU suggested to do the job. ;) And just HOW does this help with marketing my product? A "Marketing Advice Book" this is NOT.

Pg 186 "kind of car your drive" - errors like these are far too common considering how little text is in this "picture book".

Pg 195 - "if you answered the phone only 1 time out of 7, people would stop calling" OMG, I WISH.

[Margot · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Scott Stratten. He's funny, he's a great speaker, and he knows his stuff. But this book felt more like a vanity printing than something truly useful to his audience. QR Codes Kill Kittens is essentially a blog in book format. Each page consists of a headline, an image, and a sentence or two of commentary or quippy response. Many of these pages feature QR codes where they just shouldn't be (on the backs of trucks, towed in the sky by airplanes), or screenshots of very unfriendly "customer service" interactions with company brands on their social media channels. After thirty pages of reading, I was already checking the back of the book to see what the page count was and how much further I had to go. However, the reading did get better as the book went on.

Probably one big thing that hit me wrong and prevented me from enjoying the book contents right away was the introduction. I wish that Stratten had taken time to set the stage, define the conversation that he's contributing to (social media and how to use it properly in business) and put forth his opinion on the matter, so readers get a good sense of where he's coming from to begin with. Instead, he jumped right into his rant about the misuse of QR codes and really set the book up as a kind of angry rant on people too inferior to use social media correctly. I feel like that framing of the contents really limits the audience of people who would enjoy this book.

[Julaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone with a QR code should read this book. Ditto for anyone on social media.

[Lexi Ryan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was a little miffed to see that this had more than 3 stars as an average rating. While it was mildly entertaining, it was incredibly unorganized and repetitive. The author makes the book out to be about QR codes, firstly. And then inserts pictures and tweets about businesses. Okay, so I got over this after a few because he mentions how he is also going to include tips to businesses in general.

But what was so frustrating is that the book is marketed as a 'how to', or rather, a 'how to not' in the business world but a lot of the times it stabs at customers. And not in an educational way, but rather like it was just plopped upon the page because he needed to insert material.

And if this book was merely to be funny, it was barely so. It's like he tried TOO hard to be funny. I chuckled a couple times, but it was extremely half-hearted laughter.

Honestly, this book is the kind of thing you browse through waiting for a flight. It's not even worth wasting time at a bookstore to browse. Half the pictures are so popular, it's not even worth inserting into a book because if you haven't seen them already, you don't read the news and basically you live under a rock. (It's a mineral, Marie!)

The only people who should pay for this book are relatives. Because this is not worth the money. I borrowed it from the library, thankfully so.

[Teena in Toronto · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read a couple books by Scott Stratten and find them interesting. This book is about QR (quick response) codes, which is a kind of bar code. To read them, you download a QR code-reading app which will allow you to scan the code. It is supposed to take you to a website, download a link or take you to a mobile-friendly destination. I've never downloaded a QR code-reading app so I haven't had the experience of seeing what happens when one does ... so I thought I'd see if I was missing out on anything. As it turns out, Scott's not a fan of them.

There are four chapters, which are reasons for not using QR codes:

*They don't work
* Nobody likes them
* They are selfish
* They take up valuable time better spent elsewhere

Within the chapters are lots of examples of why/how not to use QR codes, plus other faux pas and Scott's commentary on them. There are occasional lists of what causes a kitten to die ... like any time someone asks to have an original faxed over, not a copy, or whenever a company promotes from within without basing it on merit.

I liked the writing style. It is very conversational, casual and amusing. He seems like he'd be a fun guy to sit down and talk with. I look forward to reading his other books and hope sometime to see one of his keynotes.

Blog review post: http://www.teenaintoronto.com/2017/11...

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was confusing - I feel like I'm not getting something.

I was excited about the premise, but the book didn't deliver. I think the book was supposed to be about how not to do marketing in general, but the chapter introductions focused entirely on QR codes. The content of the chapters was primarily examples of what not to do, but not all of the examples were adequately explained.

Unfortunately, the book was poorly organized; it read like a series of blog posts. There was also content that didn't belong (for example, at least two of the exanples in the book were about customers behaving badly with no provocation or retaliation from the business in question).

I'm giving the book 3 stars instead of 1 for a couple of reasons - first, because I did think it was funny, and second, because I did get some useful information out of the chapter introductions and some of the examples of bad marketing practices.

I'm glad that I borrowed this book from the library instead of buying it. That being said, I'm definitely going to check out Scott Stratten's podcast, because he has some interesting ideas.

[Meg · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had SO much potential, but was poorly executed. It's divided into sections, but tips in each seem arbitrarily chosen with no flow between them. Some of the examples/tips have detailed explanations while others are meant to speak for themselves. For readers who are already aware of why an example is funny and/or a bad idea, great. For those requiring explanation, not so great. Many of the fails pictured were new to me, but there were some old classics included

That said, this book was a fun (and very quick) read, and could be useful for librarians who need to make counterarguments when dealing less tech savvy administrators or senior colleagues who hear about new tools from social media/tech "gurus" and want to implement them with little thought or reason other keeping up with the Joneses. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words--though some of these pictures may require supplementary words.

[Carsten Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scott Stratten is amazing. As a public speaker he blows me away and his books are fantastic. That's the background is will set for this book.
However, while this book is fun and entertaining, as the title will hint at, then it is far from heavy on content. Many pages are mostly blank, with a screen shoot from facebook, a picture, and advertisement or similar illustrations then with a little, sometimes very little, text to highlight the point that Stratten is trying to make.
Some of the illustrations are money, others bear significantly less quality, and that's why I cannot give the book top marks.
I wish he had substituted some of the illustrations with some more text and deeper discussion of the topic at hand. He does a little of this on the last few pages of the book, but to me it seems like a case of too little, too late.
However, if you buy the book mostly for entertainment, then I'm sure you will enjoy the examples and quite certainly learn something along the way.

[Dana Sheehan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw Scott speak in 2011 and have been a fan ever since. This book rehashes some examples from his previous books, but is a great, quick read. Like all of Scott's books, I found myself nodding in agreement throughout. I can also attest that he practices what he preaches and has responded to me every time I've mentioned him in a tweet, even though many times I did not tweet him expecting a response, but was just sharing some information about one of his books with my followers.

If you are new to social media marketing or would like a quick book to share with someone to help them understand do's and don't's, this is the book for you. Then follow-up with The Book of Business Awesome/UnAwesome for lengthier examples (but only slightly - each is a few pages) and UnMarketing for more in- depth advice.