--- title: "Friday Buzz: The Onion Parody We’ve All Been Waiting For" id: "24447" type: "post" slug: "friday-buzz-the-onion-parody-weve-all-been-waiting-for" published_at: "2014-08-01T17:46:38+00:00" modified_at: "2026-03-16T12:28:02+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2014/08/01/friday-buzz-the-onion-parody-weve-all-been-waiting-for/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2014/08/01/friday-buzz-the-onion-parody-weve-all-been-waiting-for.md" excerpt: "One lucky association gets skewered by the parody news site. Read on to find out which one. Also: the perks of moving from direct to inbound marketing." taxonomy_category: - "Membership" taxonomy_post_tag: - "AssociationsNow" - "Business" - "inbound" - "Marketing" - "Membership" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "Association CEO / Executive Director" - "Executive Team" - "VP" taxonomy_persona: - "Association Professionals" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » Friday Buzz: The Onion Parody We’ve All Been Waiting For Need a laugh? Of course you do. As our Morgan Little noted Thursday, the American Psychological Association [is heading to Washington next week](http://associationsnow.com/2014/07/conference-circuit-psychology-meeting/) for it’s annual meeting. That (of course) means it’s fodder for *The Onion*. In a piece endearingly titled “[Psychology Comes to Halt As Weary Researchers Say the Mind Cannot Possibly Study Itself (opens in a new tab)](http://www.theonion.com/articles/psychology-comes-to-halt-as-weary-researchers-say,36586/) ,” a panel of frustrated APA members reveal during a news conference that they’ve decided the association—as well as the practice of psychology—cannot possibly continue due to a clear incompatibility of mission with reality. “We’ve spent years trying to discern how the mind functions, but today I am forced to admit that this so-called research was nothing more than a fool’s errand—and that we people of learning were the greatest fools of all,” American Psychological Association President Nadine Kaslow was reported as saying by the parody news site. The APA approves of the coverage, by the way: > Can APA take a joke from [@TheOnion (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/TheOnion?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) > ? Definitely. [http://t.co/eX5gsC9rXe (opens in a new tab)](http://t.co/eX5gsC9rXe) > Psychologists have studied humor for decades [http://t.co/fqiXYmrutZ (opens in a new tab)](http://t.co/fqiXYmrutZ) > > — American Psychological Association (@APA) [July 31, 2014 (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/APA/status/494935431876980736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) Watch out, guys—if you’re not careful, *The Onion* might kill your association too one day. ### Go Inbound > Four Sources for Inbound Membership Marketing [http://t.co/58G6RycTfe (opens in a new tab)](http://t.co/58G6RycTfe) > > — Tony Rossell (@TonyRossell) [July 31, 2014 (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/TonyRossell/status/494922115552780288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) Eventually, your direct marketing strategy might reach its limits—in other words, your prospects aren’t really biting anymore and you need to give ’em a break. Tony Rossell, a senior vice president of Marketing General, Inc., suggests that your next step might be focusing on inbound marketing instead—relying on things like Facebook or search engine advertising to drive attention to your programs, products, and services. “Inbound membership marketing helps you reach new prospects that you may not have interacted with before and allows them to raise their hand and come to you in search of the very information and products that you produce,” he explains. Over at his *Membership Marketing Blog*, Rossell [offers four strategies (opens in a new tab)](http://membershipmarketing.blogspot.com/2014/07/four-sources-for-inbound-membership.html) that could get you started. Who knows? You might find some prospects you weren’t even expecting. ### Other good reads **The Wikimedia Foundation** may struggle [dealing with the whims](http://associationsnow.com/2014/04/wikipedia-redesign-barely-there/) of Wikipedia’s many users, but that hasn’t stopped the foundation from [relaunching its iOS app (opens in a new tab)](https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/07/31/official-wikipedia-app-available-on-ios-and-android/) . **Adobe Illustrator drive you batty?** If you’re a Mac user, [get a load of Affinity Designer (opens in a new tab)](https://affinity.serif.com/) , an inexpensive competitor that’s in beta. **Personal agendas can get in the way** of getting the right speakers at your event, Velvet Chainsaw Consulting’s [Jeff Hurt warns (opens in a new tab)](http://velvetchainsaw.com/2014/07/31/avoiding-personal-agendas-and-pay-to-play-in-the-speaker-review-process/) . (photo by Mo Riza/Flickr) [Ernie Smith](https://associationsnow.com/author/ernie-smith/) Ernie Smith is a former senior editor for Associations Now. 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