Behold, a model for the hypothesis that today — so-called Blue Monday — is the most-depressing day of the year, according to a travel agency that really wants to be in the news.
As the Guardian observes:
While on the payroll of a PR firm five years ago, [sad academic Cliff] Arnall “calculated” that the third Monday in January was the most miserable day of the year. To make this divination, the former Cardiff University lecturer came up with a complicated equation comprising seven variables: (W) weather, (D) debt, (d) monthly salary, (T) time since Christmas, (Q) time since failed quit attempt, (M) low motivational levels and (NA) the need to take action.
This dubious bit of maths was used to give academic weight to a press release put out by Sky Travel to encourage people to cheer themselves up with a holiday.
Notably, the model does not bother to identify units, so how it manages to even render a date in the first place is anyone’s guess.
The PR firm that promoted this dodgy piece of flackery appears to be Porter Novelli, a part of Omnicom Group and an agency that should totally know better. Or perhaps maybe not!
(via Katy Kelley, who’s always full of great information.)
Tags: Blue Monday, PR Flackery, We're Good Today 'Cause We're Not Working
