QR codes are comically misunderstood and misused in the most gimmicky ways, from using them on webpages that have nothing to do with mobile content (thanks, but we have this thing called a link already) to billboards along the highway (what a great time to whip out my cellphone and take a picture!). I would conservatively estimate that 80% of all QRs I’ve seen in the wild should either not have been there at all, or would have benefited from a different application.
That said, it’s refreshing to see QRs being used to their full potential. Take this extremely low-budget music poster taped to a phone pole – wouldn’t it be nice to know what that artist or band is when you’re walking by? Most passersby won’t know the band or their music, although they might quite like it if they had the chance to hear it. Why not use a QR on the poster that brings people to a YouTube video? It’s a dirt-cheap (practically free, really) form of advertising, and it’s brilliantly effective.
For once someone put some thought into a practical application of a new technology, rather than just using it because “everyone’s doing it” or worse, simply because it exists. Now if only companies stopped slapping Facebook logos on everything…
From Tom Martin