Is PADI popular because it's cute?

[Divedoggie]

I teach 8 week University PADI OW courses.(3 hour class, 1 day a week) Students must pass the SWIM test. With hundreds of students taking the course over the last few years, I've never offered the option of the mask fin snorkel swim.
They must also complete an underwater skin dive swim.
Every semester, I have a few students who cannot pass the the test. They are encouraged to take swim lessons, or I kindly tell them that diving may not be the sport for them.

The classroom sessions have been designed to spend 50% of our time discussing equipment. How specific pieces of gear work, fit, configuration, pros and cons and configuration choices.

We also spend the extra time we have working on buoyancy skills, trim, and multiple finning techniques. While these are not PADI standards, these things are encouraged by PADI.

Our open water site has a hanging pvc "platform". The students never even see the 65 ft deep bottom, let alone go to the bottom and kneel.
I'm confident that the students who receive every OW cert I sign off on have the basic foundation necessary to be safe divers while they go out and gain more experience.

I've never seen a three day class. Completing the class in 4 days is a push.

Some people have an agenda to deride PADI and try to make sweeping statements with mal-intent. I'm sure that they can give examples that shape their opinions, but for every one of those negative examples can be offset with positive examples.

Can we get back to why the acronymn PADI is cute?

 

[Hoomi]

Can we get back to why the acronymn PADI is cute?

Okay.

Ahem.

Who's yer PADI, baby? Who's yer PADI?

 

[mwilding]

Your theory might explain why PDIC is not so popular here in the US

 

[pir8]

Your theory might explain why PDIC is not so popular here in the US

Being a PDIC Instructor as well as PADI, I would say that they don't have the marketing that PADI does. Pure and simple

 

[mwilding]

Being a PDIC Instructor as well as PADI, I would say that they don't have the marketing that PADI does. Pure and simple

That and Paddy rolls off the tongue purdier than Pee-Dick

 

[leapfrog]

My OWD students do the ten minute float swim in confined (sea) waters too deep to stand up in with the wet suit and full weight belt on. This is a more worthwhile exercise than the 200 yard swim. If they can't swim then they can't do the course.

 

[Walter]

The instructor agreed, but added this perspective: the swim "test" wasn't designed to be a hurdle that people had to pass so that they could progress. Instead, it was more of an opportunity for dive instructors to watch their new students and evaluate their skills and comfort levels in the water. If a student struggled, that was a signal that additional training would be necessary, which might include swimming instruction, physical conditioning, or additional tutorials in scuba skill sets.

True, but even more important is the student have confidence in their own ability to survive in the water. That confidence is all important to prevent panic. Without swimming ability all the dive instruction is building a skyscraper on a foundation of mud.

Can we get back to why the acronymn PADI is cute?

It's not cute.

 

[Standingbear56]

Interesting forum with alot of interesting points. Here's my .02:
PADI's founders came up with the name because they wanted 1) the word PROFESSIONAL included in the overall name, and 2) they wanted a name that was easy to say, remember, and did not sound like any other agency available at the time. (LA County, and NAUI). Needless to say that fact that it's cute sounding also does go a long way with promoting it's popularity. However, a lot of PADI's popularity is indeed due to extremely effective marketing, combined with offering an extrememly versitle product in tune with today's lifestyle. This does not mean that they have the most comprehensive standards in the world. They don't - PERIOD. However, if their product didn't do it's job, they wouldn't be where they are (largest training agency in the world) now would they? Their standards have produced more divers than all the other agencies combined, but equally important, in addition to opening up diving to the multitude - their standards have stood up to legal tests in the court of laws as well. Changes were made as needed till we have the PADI courses of today. While people like Walter (Hi Walter) have totally valid points, the fact is that today the modern consumer chooses PADI more than any other agency. Diving is a business people, and PADI knows how to do business. Other agencies have had the chance to topple PADI but they didn't. Not couldn't - didn't. Neither the other agencies, nor the courts have given PADI a reason to change their courses. If they did, then PADI would change it's business model to remain competitative. If anything, the other agencies have remodeled themselves and their standards to try to remain competative with PADI. All the yelling and screaming aside, what does that tell you?

 

[Nemrod]

I teach 8 week University PADI OW courses.-------
Can we get back to why the acronymn PADI is cute?

It is not cute. Since most divers are male, what would cuteness as a deciding factor for their choice of scuba instruction say about them? I leave cute to children and puppies.

N

 

[NudeDiver]

PADI's founders came up with the name because they wanted 1) the word PROFESSIONAL included in the overall name, and 2) they wanted a name that was easy to say, remember, and did not sound like any other agency available at the time. (LA County, and NAUI).

The most thoughtful response yet to my question. Thank you!

Needless to say that fact that it's cute sounding also does go a long way with promoting it's popularity.

Well, I dunno about being "needless" to say. If it were that needless, I would not have asked about it

However, a lot of PADI's popularity is indeed due to extremely effective marketing, combined with offering an extrememly versitle product in tune with today's lifestyle.

Well, this is getting to the heart of my question. I'm acknowledging PADI's effective marking. What I was wondering about is the degree to which the name, PADI, contributes to the effectiveness of that marking. For example, suppose PADI does everything that it does with respect to marking, but it's name were, XYFJ Instructors Inc. Would its marking be as effective?? If not, then how much less so? The second part of my OP was, did they choose a cute sounding name like PADI SPECIFICALLY as part of its marketing effort. From your post, it sounds like, to some degree, the answer is "yes". As pointed out in one of my previous posts, if the answer really IS yes, then I think it was a brilliant move on their part.

However, if their product didn't do it's job, they wouldn't be where they are (largest training agency in the world) now would they? Their standards have produced more divers than all the other agencies combined, but equally important, in addition to opening up diving to the multitude...the fact is that today the modern consumer chooses PADI more than any other agency. Diving is a business people, and PADI knows how to do business.

Microsoft knows how to do business too, and its very popular, but its products really SUCK. To some degree, based on the PADI bashing that goes on (which I don't necessarily agree with), it would seem that PADI is the Microsoft of the diving world. It's the agency people love to hate, even while still buying its products.