Popular Perceptions

The hobby is male-dominated, partly because the aviation industry and recruitment practices in the armed forces tended to favour men during the 20th Century. Participants are perceived as 'sad loners' in the mainstream media along with all other participants in outdoor spotting hobbies (bird spotters, bus spotters, butterfly spotters and train spotters). Along with other hobbies that generate no material rewards for the participant, the pastime is portrayed as 'not serious' by the sort of people who think that digital watches are 'a pretty neat idea'. The fact that spotting is essentially a dispersed activity, except at organised airshows or international airports, means that the advertising industry does not see spotters as a niche market that can be easily economically targeted. This is another reason why certain people look down on spotting as a 'complete waste of time'. So that the time of advertisers is not wasted, it should be explained that once an aircraft spotter has bought an anorak, a notebook, a telescope, radio and a pair of binoculars, it is difficult to sell him anything other than ballpoint pens. The term 'anorak' has long been in use as a derisory term for outdoor spotters of anything. It has latterly been applied to computer enthusiasts who are of course more appropriately dismissed as 'geeks' or 'nerds' by all those whose idea of a worthwhile hobby is to stereotype people according to ill-informed pre-conceptions handed down from previous generations.