I don’t think Edwin Starr had QR Codes in mind when he sang “War,” but a few young ad folk (Yousuke Ozawa, Alok Mahadevia, Jeff Oropeza) have used the anti-war theme song to declare war on the maligned pixelated mobile-scanning boxes in a one-minute video titled “Death to QR Codes.”
People have been declaring QR codes dead for quite some time now, and I’m not sure what makes this clip stand out in any way from other eulogies, other than the unintentionally ironic misuse of an anti-Vietnam song. That’s not to say the people behind the project are wrong. For whatever it is worth, a fair amount of data, like this Marketing Charts post, suggest QR code scans are leveling off as mobile advertising spending greatly increases, which is a more apt mathematical eulogy than this video. It’s a video showing people putting cutouts with little graphics of karate kicks and soldiers holding guns next to QR codes. But it’s a Friday afternoon, so if you have a free minute, watch. Or, don’t watch.