Almost meeting EnChroma's Founder Don McPherson

Several weeks ago, I attended the Internation Color Vision Society meeting in Slovenia. The event hosts talks with some of the smartest scientists in the Color Vision space. Don McPherson has been known to attend the event in the past, but I was NOT expecting his attendance this year. Unfortunately, I could only attend the final day of the event, which Don did not show up for. Go figure. I'd have loved to have had a chat with him in person, even if it was off the record. So bummed!

Still, I'm really happy I attended the event. Here's what I learnt:

• EnChroma is allegedly struggling in the wake of my investigation.

• EnChroma have a "new and improved" lens, which is alleged to boost saturation by 60%. Don promised some of the scientist he'd send them a free pair to investigate, I suspect that was the main purpose for his attendance.

• All the scienist I spoke with knew Don and only spoke well of him. Clever of him to get friendly with the small group of experts who can criticise his product.

• When the topic of EnChroma’s advertising came up, the conversation often became awkward. Some were only willing to talk candidly off the record. Some defended Don, suggesting he has little control over the marketing because he's Cheif Science Officer and not the CEO.

• Regardless, none of the experts agreed with or supported EnChroma's advertising claims.

• Some of the scientist I spoke with were aware of the misleading adveritsing but did not realise the extent of how bad it was.

Overall I left the event feeling somewhat frustrated. These experts have dedicated their lifes' work helping the colorblind, yet here they were breaking bread with the man peddledling pseudoscience to the very people they’ve been trying to help.