MyLeaky Login

Join the largest Harry Potter Social Network on the Web! | FAQ

In the News

Marketing Professor: Only Hufflepuffs Totally Loyal to Harry

Books
Posted by: sue
October 20, 2008, 04:33 PM

The Telegraph is reporting tonight that a professor in the UK has done a study on readers of the Harry Potter novels, with the findings apparently revealing there are four distinct type of readers. According to the report, Professor Stephen Brown of the Ulster Business School says the groups closely mirror the Houses of Hogwarts, and indicates the breakdown of the groups as follows:

  • 'Hufflepuff' readers take the tales at a slow, steady and systematic pace and enjoy re-reading the books over and over.
  • 'Gryffindor' readers are eager and energetic and will devour the latest Potter book in one sitting, but quickly move on to new things.
  • 'Ravenclaws' are subversive and take the stories with a pinch of salt, while 'Slytherin' readers are not fussed about the books.They prefer the films but pretend to have read the books when it suits them.

Speaking about potential sales and continuing interest in Harry Potter now that the seventh and final book in the series has been published, Professor Brown said "It is an interesting time in the development of the Potter brand because a lot of people have moved on. It will only be people who revel in his world who will continue with their admiration of the brand," he forecast.

He also noted that "Only the Hufflepuffs are totally loyal to Harry, the Gryffindors are already moving on to other things, the Slytherins never really liked him anyway and the Ravenclaws are too busy writing their own fan fiction or posting spoof videos on YouTube."

Finally, Professor Brown said that the Harry Potter novels by J.K. Rowling do not have staying power, and noted "It could come back into fashion but I think it could be like many fads and just fade away and people will look back and say 'Why did we ever read this stuff?' "

No word if Professor Brown has ever visited a Harry Potter fan site while doing the research.

Previous Article | Next Article Browse all Recent Books News

219 Comments

edna

I’m Huffledor, it seems. :)

Posted by edna on October 21, 2008, 11:48 AM report to moderator
HPGENIUS

A business prof commenting on the psychology of groupings??
Not really credible eh? Firstly, i can hardly consider anyone who bothers to check and comment on this site clearly in any house. Secondly, we’re all a mash of all houses, each with different traits, so we can only lean to the side of one house, and not be completely in one house, as is played out in DH. Sometimes, we sort too early.

Posted by HPGENIUS on October 21, 2008, 11:48 AM report to moderator
Luiz

Well, after reading this (http://www.lifestyleextra.com/ShowStory.asp?story=TQ2154630L&rss=true), I completely lost respect for this guy.

“My feeling is the brand is at tipping point. Dan Brown’s new book is due to come out shortly and I think that maybe he will usurp JK Rowling as the world’s highest paid author.”

My eyes cannot roll any harder.

Posted by Luiz on October 21, 2008, 11:49 AM report to moderator
Christine

HUFFLEPUFF, even though I like Ravenclaw. But I am loyal to Harry, so Hufflepuff. :)

Posted by Christine on October 21, 2008, 11:51 AM report to moderator
Custard

Thanks Luiz for posting that link, was very eye opening!! i like how they make it out as if jk is gona be sitting at home analysing the results and hoping that we are all hufflepuffs…..really?! this guy needs to get a real job!

Posted by Custard on October 21, 2008, 11:54 AM report to moderator
Picazo

i agree with HRWGHP

I guess I am a Hufflepuff reader

I enjoy reading the series over and over :D

Posted by Picazo on October 21, 2008, 12:23 PM report to moderator
kassia

Why are people like this profs? I read them quickly, and devour them, but I read them over and over. And I truly believe that it won’t be just a fad. It’s almost an alternate lifestyle! We will love these books all our lives, but move onto other things too. These books hold a special place in our lives, and we will be getting our children to read them, and their children will read them. It’s not a fad, it’s been going on for 10 years now. 10 years holding the spot as the world’s biggest franchise, and a lot of people have been here for many of those years. I’ve been a fan for 7 years. What kind of fad lasts that long??

Posted by kassia on October 21, 2008, 12:23 PM report to moderator
kassia

This prof also only studied the people over a 7 month time. In order to understand the Harry potter fandom, you need more time than that. Of course people will lose interest in the books when there is no books or movies coming out! He needed to study the people during when the books or the movies are out. Then he can really see the power of the fans.

Posted by kassia on October 21, 2008, 12:28 PM report to moderator
DeliaDee

A passing fad? Has he any idea how many years Harry’s been around with us loving him? That’s a hell of a fad.

Posted by DeliaDee on October 21, 2008, 12:46 PM report to moderator
kerri

No word if Professor Brown has ever visited a Harry Potter fan site while doing the research. hahahahahaha

Posted by kerri on October 21, 2008, 12:49 PM report to moderator
DeliaDee

I must admit, though, that I’ve been sorted several times. Half the time I’m sorted into Gryffindor and the other half into Hufflepuff making me, of course, a Gryffenpuff. This does mesh with Professor Buzzkill’s definitions but the same can be said of any rash generalizations.

Posted by DeliaDee on October 21, 2008, 12:50 PM report to moderator
James_Padfoot

What rubbish. I’m a Slytherin through and through, and I still love these books. We don’t fit in boxes. What is with the people in sciences (ironic, since I’m one myself) and stuffing everything into neat little categories? HP defies that! BWAHA.

And Sue’s comment FTW.

Posted by James_Padfoot on October 21, 2008, 12:56 PM report to moderator
Lisa

hmmm No staying Power….hmmmm…….. 10 + years already invested in this series…..but hmmmmmm no staying power….hmmmmmm
The guys off his Rocker to even say a sentence like this!

Posted by Lisa on October 21, 2008, 12:59 PM report to moderator
Tassana

Thank you, James. I was beginning to think that I was the only Slytherin who was going to comment about this topic.

Posted by Tassana on October 21, 2008, 01:18 PM report to moderator
Jessie

I don’t think he’s correct, but WOOO! Go Hufflepuff!!! : )

Posted by Jessie on October 21, 2008, 01:21 PM report to moderator
You must be logged in to MyLeaky to comment. Please click here to log in.

Finding Hogwarts
PotterCast Interviews Jo Rowling! Click here to Listen! The Books Everything...Half-Blood Prince...and the rest of the HP Films Leaky Apps
Learn to knit your own 'Weasley Sweater'. Learn to brew your own 'Butterbeer'. Find out how at Leaky Crafts!

Scribbulus Essay Project

Issue 28 - Mar. 2014

Scribbulus is THE place for Leaky Cauldron readers to submit their essays and opinion pieces!
See more over at Scribbulus!

Guess That Book

Lockhart cuffed Harry merrily on the shoulder. "Just do what I did, Harry!"[br]"What, drop my wand?"[br]But Lockhart wasn't listening.
http://the-leaky-cauldron.org/2008/10/20/marketing-professor-only-hufflepuffs-totally-loyal-to-harry?page=7
the-leaky-cauldron.org
crawl=CC-MAIN-2014-10
40158
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:KHBNHZK4PHIDETRDW72EKD3EK2LSM24D
<urn:uuid:3225711a-c443-4566-8e3e-76ead00e6350>
2014-03-09T20:11:40Z
54.244.112.138
sha1:JRS6S5WODVZACQ3NCNSNIHPVYQMWUO4D
<urn:uuid:940933d5-005d-4cd6-8aec-d4e26b9be644>
http://the-leaky-cauldron.org/2008/10/20/marketing-professor-only-hufflepuffs-totally-loyal-to-harry?page=7
response
<urn:uuid:6012e1a0-2a04-46da-a644-ff3bccf6192f>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-183-142-35.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2014-10
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web with URLs provided by Blekko for March 2014
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf