Certification - A money maker, but not for you

I received this advertisement via email. It is funny, in their misconceptions, but it is more sad that so many people buy into it (and by buy, I mean spend $$$).
Okay, so let's

start with the second line of this advertisement,

"If your team is conducting ad hoc, informal tests with little guidance or planning, the quality of the end product can be severely jeopardized—negatively affecting your bottom line"

This nearly represents everything that is wrong with the ISTQB certification. The quality of the end product is not

jeopardized with informal testing, a lack of test planning, or a lack of guidance. In reality, quality is a relationship, the simplest of which being the value of the product to the stakeholders (those who matter).
But this next statement in their advertisement does represents everything that is wrong with the ISTQB certification

"The best way to be certain that you are providing customers with quality software is to make sure your team of testers is certified."
Really? I thought it was by providing something they value, usually something built to meet their wants and/or needs? If I all need to do is put a gold embossed sticker on it, then so be it. Here you go.

All your software is now of high quality. Oh by the way ISTQB, that will be $1,995 + $250 ($1,995 for training so that you know how to use the sticker, and $250 for the right to use the sticker. Let's throw in $9.95 for Shipping and Handling as well). So, they don't have a clue about the testing industry, nor about quality. But hey, let's see what their mission statement says. Maybe that will shed some light on what they are trying to do.

It is the ISTQB's role to support a single, universally accepted, international qualification scheme, aimed at software and system testing professionals, by providing the core syllabi and by setting guidelines for accreditation and examination for national boards

So, their mission is to create a certification scheme (their word, not mine) and provide the materials and exams for that certification. It is nothing less than a money making scheme, and it is right there in their mission statement. They do not care about quality or testing.

I do not accept the ISTQB as a part of any community of software testers. The ISTQB is a business, pursuing their own agenda. I know that may sound a bit harsh, but consider this. As Michael Bolton pointed out, In Oct 2008, ISTQB announced 100,000 certified testers. Each of these testers had to pay a fee to take the exam. For the U.S, this fee is $250 (entry level) and I think $100 in India. That means they have made between $10 million to $25 million in revenue on certifications alone in the past 5 years. So far, they are succeeding at their mission statement.