Posts tagged recommendation
the silence lie
Jan 18th
“just because you didn’t speak the facts out loud didn’t erase their existence. silence was just a quieter way to lie.” – unknown 
I am fairly sure I found these words in some tween blog. I don’t remember the frame of reference but I wrote down the words because … well … I don’t really give a shit about the frame of reference because it defines the ‘silent lie’ better than anything else I have ever seen.
“silence was just a quieter way to lie.”
Boy oh boy.
That is a powerful thought.
I guess the funny thing is truth is truth … whether it is spoken or silent. So why wouldn’t a lie be exactly the same?
A lie’s existence is not defined by words or lack of words … it is defined by whether it exists or not.
Maybe I say this because anything that exists can take on a life of its own.
It breathes and lives and, well, it actually eats. It eats away at your thoughts and, if you are unfortunate, it eats away at your soul.
And if a lie exists then it does all that.
Frankly, I am not sure you can ever kill a lie. Even by eventually speaking the truth. I believe even in that case it doesn’t cease to exist but maybe by speaking it … it attains a more tangible form. And maybe that makes it easier to accept … ok, well … maybe not accept. Maybe it’s just live with it.
So if I believe that, when does a lie stop existing? When does it take its last breath?
Well.
I actually believe they take their last breath the same time you do. Yup. I believe lies are things you carry with you until the end of your days. You cannot erase their existence by ‘speaking the facts out loud.’ They are one of Life’s burdens.
I imagine we all lie at some point or another.
A white lie. A lie of omission. A lie of silence. A lie of words. I personally don’t believe Life weighs lies … like there are ‘big lies’ and ‘little lies’ … I just believe Life counts them all simply as lies.
So.
Maybe the measure of our life is … how many lies take their last breath when we do at the end.
five finger death punch (a song write up)
Feb 13th
I am not sure if I am truly writing a song review because I like the song or if it is because I always have wanted to begin a post with ‘five finger death punch.’
I guess I should begin with something my mother often says about today’s music world … where the hell do some of these bands come up with their names?
(note: this is an update 2/18 because one of the cool guys in my office – interactive of course – explained the five finger death punch. it is the mysterious move in Kill Bill that only she knows as the death punch. so. now at least we all know the reference point for the group. just wanted to fill in a gap as i found more information.)
So.
Where the hell did these guys come up with this name? (no clue but i bet it has some karate/ju-jitsu type reference). The band music typically lives up to its name. It feels like a death punch to your head.
Okay.
Next.
The song. Its not a “make your head explode hard rock song” (although they are quite capable of that type of song). This is a ‘make your head explode’ band playing a ballad. And a pretty good one.
Walk Away: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS803Oc2DCY&feature=related
And … for all you old folk … they also did a remake of Bad Company’s “Bad Company” that was the first song of theirs that caught my ear.
Enjoy.
travels of reading part 1
Sep 7th
So.
This is part a rant about people who don’t take advantage of reading and part simply a plea for people to read as often as they can.
Let me begin with the traveling ‘thing’ I mention upfront.
I have been extremely fortunate in my life to have had the opportunity to travel the globe. And experience lots of things. And see a lot of different things.
But even with that.
I tend to believe books and reading have offered the best travels I have ever experienced. Yeah. I do love reading and I believe reading books really is like traveling.
Traveling to places. To thoughts. To others minds. To other types of thinking. To fresh ideas.
It is an absolute fact that everyone has the opportunity to see so many things through reading.
And imagine things with limitless boundaries.
And experience thinking and ideas and combinations of words that energize the mind and the heart and the soul.
Reading just gets you … well … thinking. Just thinking about things.
We all have found those moments in books when reading.
There are those moments when you actually traveled through a slice of someone ‘else’s life living it word by word.
As I typed that I remember I was fortunate to be given a proofers copy of The Horse Whisperer and asked my opinion. I know I gave it a great review.
And I believe it made me cry in the first 50 pages (which may be one of the most heart wrenching tangled emotional ‘stepping into a moment’ sections of a book I have ever encountered).
That is an example of traveling through someone else’s life experience.
You travel through their experience and feel it. In your gut. You live it. You get so close to the moment through the words you feel like you have traveled there.
I find the same (but different) feeling when I read The Economist.
Anyway.
Anyone who reads knows about the moments when you come across a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things that you’d thought and it was lurking in your own mind and it appears on a page articulated by by someone else, someone you’ve never met, maybe even someone long passed.
It’s as if someone has heard your thought and knew you couldn’t figure out a way to put it in words and has traveled to say “here it is, worry no more, for now you know what it is.”
And, of course, (because I am consistent on this issue and I am who I am) reading an easy path to knowledge.
Of course you can gain knowledge through experience, or discussion, or other paths … but reading is so freely available and simple that it can only be deemed a great failure to anyone who doesn’t encourage it as a core activity … if not privilege.
I do know I would like to see America become a place that’s proud of intellectual curiosity. But I fear too often intellectual curiosity is belittled by people whose idea of culture is determined by television or People-type magazines or internet blogs.
You would like to think that knowledge should be a lifelong goal and not something satisfied by high school mandatory reading lists or four years of college … but rather a lifetime of reading.
Here is the issue (ok. some issues).
Okay. Some statistics.
From bookstatistics.com:
- 58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.
- 42% of college graduates never read another book.
- 80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
- 70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
Ok.
Did you know that there are approximately 30 million adults in the U.S. who can’t read?
Yikes.
THAT last one sends a shiver down my spine.
While I would like to think most people would like to read (like I do) but I guess I also assume they can actually read.
But.
Look at number 2 on the list. 80% of families did not buy or read a book. 80 frickin’ percent.
Whew.
What happens to us (from childhood where we seem to have endless supplies of books to read)?
I do know that one of my favorite childhood memories is “reading” The Hobbit.
Ok. I didn’t read it. Our teacher read it to us in installments in elementary school in ‘reading time.’
Afterwards? I couldn’t wait to get my own hands on it.
Since then I have read it and the entire Lord of the Rings maybe 10 times. I have no idea at what age was my first time but it has to be very young. I remember being fascinated, excited and impatient waiting for the next chapter to unfold. I created pictures in my mind at each reading and the next day another picture would be drawn.
So.
I am not suggesting everyone love reading as much as I do.
But understanding what reading has to offer is important.
Not everyone can physically travel and books not only give someone an opportunity to travel anywhere in the ‘now’ but they give you an opportunity to travel through time … and see ideas past, present and future.
Look. I know reading books certainly doesn’t have a monopoly on becoming “smart.”
I’ve read some amazing stuff online, and I’ve read amazingly thought provoking newspaper articles (not in local papers but the NY Times or The Guardian). And I do think staying open to new media is a key sign of intellectual curiosity.
I don’t know.
In any case, I don’t know if people who don’t read lack intellectual curiosity. I think there can be other ways to satisfy intellectual curiosity (particularly in today’s web crazy world).
But I do think if you don’t read you can find yourself with a lack of ability to think in the abstract and the potential.
You may have heard the term “lifelong learning.”
Though learning begins when we are children education is truly a never ending process (and reading can play an important part of learning for everyone). Reading not only keeps us informed about the world around us but also provides intellectual stimulation and helps keep us mentally sharp.
Reading offers benefits not found in more “passive” media.
It gives the brain a much better workout than does watching television. When we watch TV, we take in the information in a passive way. But reading allows the mind to:
- pause, reflect, think
- operate more actively
- use intellect and emotion together
- develop a longer attention span.
Oh.
And on that last bullet point. To those of you who may say “I don’t have the attention span to read.” Well. There ain’t anyone out there who has a shorter attention span than I do. I have the attention span of a gnat. And still a book can suck me in to a place where it doesn’t become about ‘attention’ any more but rather ‘involvement.’
Ok.
Regardless of all my own personal ramblings on the greatness of reading there are some actual studies (if you doubt that this whole reading is traveling thing is really for you).
- Carnegie Mellon scientists discovered that the volume of brain white matter in the language area of the brain increased after study participants followed a six-month daily reading program. The Carnegie Mellon study proved that the brain structure can be improved by training poor readers to become better readers.
- In 2009, Mayo Clinic conducted a Study of Aging that offered some good news for middle-aged and senior adults. Reading a book and other cognitive activities could decrease the risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). MCI is associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
This says we should assume the brain is like a muscle. Studies prove that exercising it and stimulating it makes it stronger. Reading stimulates brain activity. Reading a variety of “things” (blogs, books, newspapers, etc.) challenges the brain to think in new directions and absorb new concepts and information.
And children?
Children benefit from reading on many levels. Parents actively stimulate their child’s brain by sharing a reading time with them. Interactive reading time creates a shared bond between parent and child along with provoking a child’s natural curiosity about the world and environment.
Giving a child a chance to ask questions, express an interest in a particular topic, and hear new vocabulary and ideas forms a positive impression on a child that lasts a lifetime. Children with poor reading skills have a tendency to feel more anxious and sad (that comes from a study but I lost the source).
Reading also means we are in more control of how we learn and absorb different ideas. We can skim over portions that interest us less, move backwards and forwards, reread and, as in my case, make notes or write spectacularly articulated things down.
Reading helps keep us oriented and engaged.
Science, history, biographies, self help, religion, philosophy … the list is really endless … all make our ‘world’ a little more ‘full’ (but it is a glass that can never actually be completely filled) with each book we read.
I left this to the end because people who haven’t really figured out how to enjoy reading don’t “get” this. But there is an amazing pleasure to sitting down with a good book. It’s kind of like traveling to anywhere in the world (imagined or real) without leaving the comfort of our own chair. We can visit a fantasy realm with JRR Tolkien, or the American West with Louis L’Amour, or solve a mystery with Sherlock Holmes or see the intricacies of war with Tom Clancy. (that list could truly go on and on)
So.
In the end.
Some people will never ever be interested in learning unless dragged, kicking and screaming.
My biggest hope is that we adults (the ones who don’t like reading) don’t hinder our kids natural curiosity about the world and still encourage them to read (it is unfortunate that kids typically do as they see … so … if you don’t read they don’t feel compelled to do so).
I do know that I will never quit trying to give everyone the opportunity to love reading and knowledge and encouraging curiosity.
Why?
Because not all of us have the privilege to travel.
And books give everyone the privilege to travel.
Doesn’t get much simpler than that.
travels of reading part 2
Sep 7th
“You get a little moody sometimes but I think that’s because you like to read. People that like to read
are always a little fucked up.” Pat Conroy
This is a follow up to my reading part 1 (which was serious about the importance of reading).
This is more a rant (and a warning) on how people who love to read abuse their joy of reading.
This possibly provides a counterbalance to my disdain for people who waste the opportunity to permit their minds to travel through reading … which is a luxury everyone can afford and has access to regardless of budget.
So.
Readers can take things to absurd levels (simply because they read).
Pretentious.
Pompous.
Treating people who don’t read (or are not “well read”) as lesser beings (and they can do it overtly or in sneaky but still pompous ways).
Oh.
And the perpetual idiotic rephrasing or quoting of literature (rather than seek their own words).
Using quotes can be lazy.
Just as using any words of others can be lazy.
For reading is only good if you are using it to increase your own intellectual thinking.
And to come up with your own ideas.
And to express your own thoughts and ideas better,
Reading is traveling.
Traveling through other people’s thoughts and ideas.
And, sure, it is okay to show pictures of your trips and travels but you don’t want to read from the guidebooks as you tell everyone about the trip … they want to hear your thoughts and experience it through your eyes and words.
Yeah.
I am certainly a lover of a well crafted written thought. That poetic turn of phrase. Even that full chapter of prose that when it ends you finally exhale. And then only to turn back upon on some pages and reread something because the way the words have been put together it stirs something inside you … it could be your soul … it could be your mind … it could just be ‘something’ but those words have created an imprint upon you.
But.
The imprint is often best used in your own words when shared.
Do I use quotes or literary references? Sure. You bet I do.
Do I use them to replace my own words? Rarely.
I use someone else’s words to either emphasize my own thoughts or introduce my thoughts or (in a business environment) to honestly “steal a moment.”
(note: ‘stealing a moment definition: that would be when the meeting is spinning in a direction and you cannot seem to stem the stream of unfocused idiocy spewing forth and you grab an appropriate quote out of your memory banks – because frankly your own words haven’t done shit to steer everyone away from whatever the hell it is they are saying – and you grandly toss someone else’s words out into the air. That, my friends, is the art of stealing a moment with a quote.).
Anyway.
Reading is useful only when … well .. you make it useful.
Reading and learning and saying nothing is a waste.
Reading so you don’t have to do your own thinking is a waste.
Reading to solely use other people words is a waste.
Reading to simply say things to show you are better and smarter (well, maybe more ‘well read’) is a waste.
Oh.
And not reading is the worst waste.
Beyond my quote/using others words rant.
If you are a reader and love books?
Don’t abuse your love for reading. Don’t just talk but listen.
And share after listening.
Your attitude with what you have gained from reading can either encourage someone to pick up a book or discourage some from reading.
If you love to read, you are an ambassador for reading and need to think of yourself as such.
Think of yourself as a curiosity fulfillment teacher. Think of it as your own personal “no person left behind” program.
Advocate reading don’t belittle someone who doesn’t.
And if you struggle to figure out how to encourage someone to read?
Maybe steal someone else’s words … Charles Schultz (Peanuts author):
“This is my report on the importance of knowing how to read. If you can’t read and you get a love letter, you won’t know what it says. That would be very sad. Although in the long run, it also could save you a lot of trouble.”
- Charles Schultz
the vodka workout
Sep 6th
So.
The august 22nd NY Times. Under a fascinating article called “the sofa wars” (not kidding … and, yes, NY Times is still a great newspaper) there was a small news piece on a gym that offers cocktail hours after their boot camp fitness training classes. Oh. And the cocktail hours (not the boot camps) are sponsored by a vodka called Svedka.
Ok. Couple things here. Let me begin with the vodka sponsorship.
Sweet move on their part.
I have never heard of the brand (although they claim to be #5 globally) and their claim is “Voted #1 Vodka of 2033.” and “You can have it all with SVEDKA – the fastest growing vodka in the world!”
Awesome marketing bullshit stuff.
They get to say #1 (because it is 2033 for god’s sake). Oh. And I am sure some ‘branding consultant’ suggested “hey, if you say #1 in 2033 everyone will think … ‘aspirational! I should buy now when it is cool and I can say I drank it before they became #1 and everyone drinks it!’ …” “SVEDKA is the vodka of the future.”
Fire their ass.
Next.
“Fastest growing.” Well. Let’s see. If you have sold exactly one case. And now because of his new deal you sell 200 cases. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm … that may truly become the fastest growing by god. Brilliant.
Regardless of all the marketing mumbo jumbo.
Sveda is actually doing a smart thing in a tough category where differentiation is very very difficult. And the fitness sponsorship loosely ties in with the vodka’s “RU Bot Or Not?” ad campaign (which features a female robot with some “healthy” proportions).
The Sveda “dancing machine” tv: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVRbJYkO_6U
Ok.
Onto the second point.
The whole ‘alcohol and health & fitness’ tie in.
Look.
I love a good cocktail as much as anyone. Maybe even more than a lot of people. And I do love a good workout and love sports and shit like that.
But please … please … please don’t try and tell me that mixing the two of them is a good thing (if you truly want to claim to be a fitness club).
The owner of the fitness center said he doesn’t mind that it seems hypocritical to tempt his members with a drink that’s not as healthy as water. He says, “It’s better to work out and drink than to not work out and drink. Our members have intense lives, and some people party and that’s all the more need to work out.”
Well.
If you want some logic there you go.
Anything else?
“Sweat and alcohol are both great social lubricants,” says the owner of Barton Gym. “I want people to find the gym not just a place to work out, but a good hang as well.” What this all means is that after the boot camp exercise classes (and a shower one would hope) they get their cocktails made with clementine-flavored vodka, orange juice, sour mix and fresh mint.
Oh.
And here is some logic on why vodka (just to show they truly thought this through)
“It’s a little weird to serve bourbon or Scotch. Tequila might seem out of control. Vodka seems like the right complement to the gym.”
There you go.
Awesome stuff.
Well.
Unfortunately while I love this concept I have written a lot about Healthy Intake and body image and self esteem and anti-obesity and stuff like that so I feel compelled to finish this one off with some nice little factoids.
There has been a boatload of studies on alcohol and abdominal obesity. Yeah. If you look hard enough and at enough studies you can find something somewhere that you could point to and say “see! I can drink and lose weight (or get a better figure).” But. Stop. Just stop. You are being foolish.
Analysis of the study results pretty much conclusively shows alcohol as a factor that hurts your efforts to lose body fat.
Sure.
Whether alcohol is “fattening” has been a very controversial subject because technically speaking, alcohol is NOT stored as fat – it is oxidized ahead of other fuels (whatever that really means).
Yes.
Whether moderate drinking is healthy has also been a subject of controversy. Many studies show that cardiovascular health benefits are associated with moderate beer or wine drinking.
Whatever.
Here is the truth about the ‘beer belly’ phenomenon (abdominal fat or that stuff that we lovingly call love handles and belly fat).
There is a study, by Ulf Riserus and Erik Inglesson, was based on the Swedish Uppsala Longitudinal cohort. The researchers found that alcohol intake had a very “robust” association between alcohol intake, waist circumference and waist to hip ratio. They pointed out that a high alcohol intake, especially hard liquor, was closely associated with abdominal body fat, not just overall body mass.
Abdominal fat accumulation is not just a cosmetic problem; it can be a serious health risk. Abdominal fat, also known as “android” or “central” obesity, increases the risk for cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, high blood lipids, glucose intolerance and elevated insulin levels.
Oh.
And it doesn’t look good if you want to look good (just a self appearance issue beyond all the health gobbledygook).
So.
Tell yourself whatever you want to tell yourself but it sure looks like there’s some scientific support to tie alcohol to “abdominal fat” after all (or at least a “beer belly” according to the study).
Anyway.
I won’t preach or lecture.
It just seemed silly to me for a fitness club to start tying in with alcohol an keep a straight face.
Let me finish with some truth and suggestions if you still want to drink and get in shape.
The best advice I found came from a place called disabledworld.com and they had a nice matter-of-fact way of looking at maintaining a normal life (for those of us who love a good cold beer or cocktail on occasion and don’t want to go completely crazy and stop completely) and drinking alcohol:
(disabledworld) To summarize this into some practical, take-home advice, here are 7 of my personal tips for alcohol consumption in the fitness lifestyle:
1. Don’t drink on a fat loss program. Although you could certainly drink and “get away with it” if you diligently maintained your calorie deficit as noted above, it certainly does not help your fat loss cause or your nutritional status.
2. Drink in moderation during maintenance. For lifelong weight maintenance and a healthy lifestyle, if you drink, do so in moderation and only occasionally, such as on weekends or when you go out to dine in restaurants. Binge drinking and getting drunk has no place in a fitness lifestyle (not to mention hangovers aren’t very conducive to good workouts).
3. Don’t drink daily. Moderate drinking, including daily drinking, has been associated with cardiovascular health benefits. However, I don’t recommend daily drinking because behaviors repeated daily become habits. Behaviors repeated multiple times daily become strong habits. Habitual drinking may lead to heavier drinking or full-blown addictions and can be hard to stop if you ever need to cut back.
4. Count the calories. If you decide to have a bottle of beer or a glass of wine or two (or whatever moderation is for you), be sure to account for the alcohol in your daily calorie budget.
5. Watch your appetite. Don’t let the “munchies” get control of you during or after you drink (Note to chicken wing and nacho-eating men: The correlation to alcohol and body fat is higher in men in almost all the studies. One possible explanation is that men tend to drink and eat, while women may tend to drink instead of eating).
6. Watch the fatty foods. When drinking, watch the fatty foods in particular. A study by Angelo Tremblay back in 1995 suggested that alcohol and a high fat diet are a combination that favors overfeeding.
7. Enjoy without guilt. If you choose to drink (moderately and sensibly), then don’t feel guilty about it or beat yourself up afterwards, just enjoy the darn stuff, will you!
In the end?
I love a good cocktail (or five).
I love a good beer (or dozen).
I love a good bottle of wine (or two).
I love the social aspect.
But. If I want to be in shape. And I want to be fit. Alcohol doesn’t enhance the program. I know that. Doesn’t mean I stop drinking. I am just aware.
So.
Silly gimmick by a gym. Very silly.
national program to support Childhood Curiosity
Jul 27th
So I saw a TV commercial encouraging maintaining arts/music in schools curriculum the other day. I didn’t pay much attention to the details and I am not really a government program gwonk (whatever that is) but I assume someone in their infinite wisdom is cutting money supporting these things in schools.
Well, in general, I would say I would jump on this soapbox.
But.
I won’t because of ignorance with regard to the choice. Huh? If I support this, does funding get cut from some other children’s education program? As I stated I am not a policy gwonk so I don’t really know how these things work.
But.
Here is what I do know.
Every child is born curious.
And every child has an unopened box of curiosity which has a key to open it.
And I do know every child needs a different key to open it.
For me it was words. Words in songs. Words in books. Whatever. I listened to the radio music incessantly and read every Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy book I could get my hands on. Somewhere in elementary school a teacher read us Tolkien’s The Hobbit during reading hour. (I couldn’t wait to be able to read it on my own.)
For others I assume it’s something else.
The stars and planets and space.
Playing an instrument.
Understanding what makes things run and go.
How do things live.
Why is the grass green and the sky blue.
Crap like that.
Frankly I don’t care about any individual program (music, math, social studies, chemistry, etc.).
What I care about is giving children a box of keys and let them figure out what opens their curiosity box. And then making sure that curiosity never grows hungry. That it can be fed for as long as they want to keep eating. Curiosity will never have an obesity issue .. there should be an all-you-can-eat buffet 24-7 for kids.
Is that realistic? Once again, frankly, I don’t care.
This is me being unreasonable. Having music fight for money from sciences who is trying to make sure they have money from machine shop/woodworking is kinda nuts. You are choosing among the children (literally and figuratively).
So while I am okay with a TV commercial fighting for something like music in schools I am not okay that money has to be spent on the fight (versus actually using the money for feeding kid’s curiosity).
This is not “no child left behind” (although I guess if I did some research I could be really sure about that statement).
In fact, I read somewhere that inadvertently the ‘no child left behind’ program kind of created the arts cutback situation because funds had to be diverted to sciences & math to insure the program met its goals (I don’t think anyone planned it to work that way).
Heck. President Obama announced a $250 million initiative to train math and science teachers and help meet his goal of pushing America’s students from the middle to the top of the pack in those subjects in the next decade. Obama said the $250 million in public and private investments for his “Educate to Innovate” campaign will help train more than 100,000 teachers and prepare more than 10,000 new educators in the next five years. I am all for that also. Just not at the expense of other curriculum options students could select.
Why do we have to choose one over the other? (I guess that is where I get stuck on this issue)
So. What would I do? (being the unreasonable guy I am)
Use that 250 million to train Curiosity Fulfillment teachers. Create a Curiosity Fund and go get stuff in front of kids. And keep shoving it at them until they find something they gravitate to. The only reason (in my opinion) kids “give up” in school is because they just don’t find anything relevant to them. I am NOT suggesting we should ignore a well rounded education (they do need to know 2 and 2 is 4 and stuff like that) but give them a “hook.” Something to hold on to. Something that inspires them to want to know more.
There you go – a National Childhood Curiosity Program. Educating to feed Curiosity.
addictive song: beg steal or borrow by ray lamontagne
Jul 27th
Ray Lamontagne is an acquired taste. He has a new cd coming out in mid august (that is not it to the left .. . that is an old good cd example). I think this song, Beg Steal or Borrow, is the pre-release for the cd. A lot of his other stuff gets a little too soft for my tastes but this song has a little folksier rambling sound to it.
It kind of has a Pure Prairie League sound to it (which is a good thing because Falling in and out of Love/Amie remain one of my favorite songs of all time).
(had to include that song): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8X_gws1Rck&feature=related
Anyway.
‘Beg Steal or Borrow’ is country but not country. It has a slow non rushed western rolling sound to it. It just kind of moseys along (I don’t get to type that often). It certainly has the sound you can imagine playing this while cruising down an old highway somewhere in the middle of America. It has some nice nuanced key changes in the vocals and beautiful steel guitar.
In general Ray’s music isn’t for those seeking uplifting energetic music (unlike wakey!wakey! who I posted yesterday and also has a beard). Ray’s lyrics tend to be introspective and he writes stark melodies. But. Owning a couple of cds of his, his good stuff is good. This one is good.
Beg Steal or Borrow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6a_1R3w5i4
Enjoy.
new song: Light Outside by WAKEY!WAKEY!
Jul 26th
So. About the only thing I am a sucker for in songwriting, beyond a bass player who writes songs, is a keyboard singer/songwriter. This guy is a dynamic personality at the piano and isn’t afraid to wrap different instruments (violins and strings) to fill out a pretty frenetic writing style. 
Also has a wonderful habit of filling in the harmony with a female voice which is interesting because his voice has a higher quality anyway.
Anyway. Light Outside is a simple but complex song which probably makes it interesting.
Simple in that at its core it is just a piano player singing a minimalistic lyric story.
Complex because it has a parallel frenetic and calm musical style.
Anyway. His singing style isn’t really conducive to a love ballad but his song has a heart wrenching thread to it that kind of tugs at your heart and makes you think. (I include another track at the end of the post too.)
Light Outside youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD02bI09dOM&feature=related
(i don’t particularly like the official video so I didn’t include it)
The lead singer is really interesting. This comes from their website:
“I was a scrawny, dopey kid—the worst athlete on the face of the planet,” says Wakey!Wakey! frontman Mike Grubbs. “You know tee ball? I got to first base one time.”
Grubbs grew up in a house learning to play a burgundy baby grand in a music room that also housed a French horn, clarinet, violin and autoharp. In his youth his mother—a longtime piano teacher and choir director—would ask the kids to sight read songs before they could even think of eating cereal.
“For every school subject done,” he says, “I could play the piano for an hour. It was almost like video games for me.” The games got a bit more complicated in high school, as Grubbs stumbled upon the songbooks of Billy Joel and Elton John. Not to mention the arena-ready anthems of Led Zeppelin as well as Bach, Beethoven and Brahms (you will note a classical thread in his music).
“One of my main influences now is the fact that I didn’t have someone teach me proper jazz or rock playing,” explains Grubbs. “I had no idea how to put a song together; no one telling me, ‘Hey, you should check out Gershwin,’ but it was all so fascinating to me. So I found my own style by experimenting with what works and what doesn’t.”
It is a different style of music. It is an infectious frenetic pop sound with classical (or maybe jazz) undertones. Pick up the song. Heck. Pick up the cd.
Oh.
A bonus. “Almost Everything.” It is the second song I heard from Wakey!Wakey!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiQo6DoXknY
It sounds really good. It will be interesting to follow these guys.
unhealthy eating part 3.5: response to smart comments
Jul 15th
So. My friend and past business associate and one smart lady has been stepping up and challenging my solution to addressing the Obesity issue and Unhealthy Eating in general. After I posted Unhealthy Eating part 3 she cranked out some fairly extensive thoughts in the comments and one-on-one and rather than get bogged down in the comments section I am taking them all on in a post.
Dear Jen,
Geez. Jen.
I wrote Unhealthy Eating 3 months ago and now you are asking me hard questions and I have to think.
Geez.
Okay. Let me start with maybe I am smarter than I look. When I wrote this originally I had found one technical article citing the characteristics of addiction associated with unhealthy eating. Now when I Google “unhealthy eating as an addiction” my post shows up 5 on a fairly healthy top 10 list. 2 interesting ones included:
http://csr2health.blogspot.com/2010/04/should-unhealthy-eating-be-treated-as.html
http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/content/addiction/art1966.html
quote: “We pride ourselves on our intelligence but we still engage in many unhealthy behaviors — eating and drinking to excess, smoking, abusing drugs. Can doctors and therapists help us stop these unhealthy behaviors? The answer appears to be yes.”
So. I do believe the conversation about “addiction” as the key to addressing behavior change is beginning.
Anyway.
Before I take each of Jen’s thoughts on I would like to point out that almost everything she wrote is very similar to what someone would have written about smoking/tobacco usage in the early 70’s. We could debate the “shades” of the comparison but self esteem and appearance and image and all that stuff came along with smoking as well as “long way down the road.”
I will take on the “Long road to change” habit to addiction or whatever more directly later on but I thought it was important enough to state that this concept is not a short term idea.
Anti smoking, when it begin in earnest in early 70’s, had a long road to success. It took decades to be successful. Why decades? Well. Not because they did anything wrong (in fact they actually did it correctly) but rather because they were not only attacking perceptions but also attempting to affect behavioral attitudes. And, honestly, the best way to affect behavioral attitudes is not in a generation that already has deep seeded behavioral patterns but rather a younger generation in its formative behavioral growth stage (think safety belts, smoking, and something else I cannot pull out of my aging memory banks) . hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm … I wonder if aging is an addiction.
Sorry. I digress.
The comments with some type of response immediately following. Please note some answers may be slightly repetitive because of some overlap on what I believe on some underpinnings.
1) Not against the “food is addiction” idea, certainly there’s a lot of research that indicates the chemical “rewards” of eating certain foods. But isn’t there a line between habit and addiction? Or is every habit (even a healthy one) just a low grade addiction? Is every overweight person an addict? What about thin people with a bad sugar/junk food habit which could also kill them? Not totally convinced (at least for now) that we should do a 180 in terms of obesity approach. Think the problem is more nuanced than black & white.
- Sorry Jen. I think as soon as we enter the nuance discussion we are destined for failure. Is every overweight person an addict? No. some people have chemical imbalance issues. If diagnosed properly they fall into a different solution group. Are thin people will health issues because of their food intake addicts? Yes.
I believe the unhealthy eating addiction is non discriminatory of body type. Are certain body types more likely to be indicative of an addiction? Sure. Just as certain geographies or lifestyles are more indicative of tobacco usage or drug usage. But that is a “propensity to problem” discussion.
Also.
I do believe there is a distinction between habit and addiction (I am not a scientist so I don’t have nifty charts or studies to support this). But I do believe society has blurred them. I personally don’t believe there is such a thing as ‘low level addiction” (I think that is something like being kind of pregnant).
Addiction is self destructive behavior. It seems crazy to me that people call shopping an addiction, or sex as an addiction (please, god, I want to meet one of those women) or any of the other wacky things we attach to ‘addiction.’
But it seems as a society we are comfortable talking about ‘raping f humanity’ or raping people of their rights’ and missing and diminishing in some ways the reality of rape … so I guess we are a culture destined to abuse words and diminish their affect through misuse.
(sorry. You got me on one of my soapboxes … they make me feel taller)
But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do the right thing.
Black & white to me. Addiction.
2) Think it’s gonna be hard to change the reward for eating right from “not being fat” to “not dying”. There are a lot of immediate, short term rewards for being less fat (social acceptance, self esteem, etc), while the concept of “dying” is (for most of us) a loooong way down the road and not very immediate or real.
- Yup. Its gonna be hard. Almost impossible in the beginning in fact. The biggest initial hurdle will be its lack of political correctness. Similar to tobacco a lot of physicians and politicians hesitated to join the team upfront. Its gonna be the same here. But (and I wish I had written this and maybe copywrited it) “nothing really good in life is easy.”
3) So the communication challenge is to make “death” a more immediate reality. I suspect this is why a lot of overweight people have to get a medical wake up call (diabetes, heart disease, etc) before they are motivated to action — death becomes reality.
- Yes. This you nailed right on the head. I believe it is so much easier to focus and ignore all the other things you put in point 2 (self esteem, social acceptance, etc.) because they are not really “I” focused. They can be dismissed (and I am saying this flippantly but you get the point) as “stupid people around me … I am just me being me and I feel comfortable in my own skin.”
This is the exact same issue tobacco usage ran into in the beginning. “All these issues are so far in the future I can put off doing something now and do it later.” That is where addiction came into play. People in the beginning just didn’t think addiction played a role. They thought it was all choice or ‘managing habitual behavior.’ And while I don’t disagree it will be the communications challenge I just want to be sure by ‘communications challenge’ we are saying the same thing – alignment with regard to influencers and all outgoing discussion that ‘death’ is the outcome of unhealthy eating (or intake).
4) I was also thinking that “being healthy” is too squishy a goal. It CAN include weight issues, and it can also include a lot of other things which don’t involve food at all. So solving obesity would be a by-product of solving “everyone be healthy”, right? In the same way we tell clients to set measureable goals, specific goals are definitely part of this solution. I mean, quitting smoking or drugs is pretty specific: you succeed if you don’t do it anymore. But eating is different since you have to eat every day — so how will our “addict” know when they’ve succeeded? To make it more complicated, what’s healthy for one person may not be the ideal for someone else. Also, the more I think about this the more it STILL seems to me there are lots of programs and guidelines that kinda do what you’re talking about in your post — they simply don’t say “you’re a food addict and here’s your 12 step program” (although Overeaters Anon does exactly that).
- I am going to debate on portions of your thoughts but honestly I could be talked out of a couple of things.
First. I don’t think being healthy is too squishy. To an unhealthy eating addict I may add. If you are addicted and you manage it and are successful in healthy intake you may remain ‘obese’ (or whatever measure we may elect to use) but you are maximizing your body type. You are making your body type healthy. So ‘not squishy’ is the fact the reward, true success, is being healthy, living a full life, feeling good and being a good as you can be (not only for you but people you love and care about you). Shit. If that is squishy I will take it.
Second. I do believe healthy eating can be very specific (and a portion of this belief I am addressing in the success discussion). I believe it can be very specific because similar to drugs and tobacco there is a firm list of “do not intakes.” An unequivocal list of don’ts.
Third. Success. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh … and now we take on the hard one. Well. For an addict success is measured in moment and days … well … let’s say “day.” each day done right is a success. You go to sleep. The next day an addict has a blank slate of no success yet. Moments of success occur and the day becomes a success. And start over again. Sound tiring? Yes. An addict’s life? Yes. And I believe once we start thinking this way programs that say “it’s okay to reward yourself with a small piece of pie” will go away (or will not be the approved programs). A drug addict doesn’t reward themselves with a couple lines of coke. Nor does an alcoholic reward themselves with a drink.
Breaking addiction means depriving yourself of the perceived pleasure of the addiction and finding your pleasure stimulus elsewhere. The reward system needs to be overhauled in all these weight management programs.
Fourth. Yeah. Okay. You have nailed me on this one before (exiting programs out there). You know? There may be. And there are certainly components of existing programs that are right on. Yet. I continue to believe a program developed from scratch with addiction in mind would look different than anything out there today. Massive differences? Heck. I don’t know. Meaningful differences? Probably. And it is those differences I worry are not in existing programs today.
5) If there were easy answers we surely would have found them by now…
- I did chuckle when I read this. Anyway. This topic is probably a completely different post but let me stay with addiction type things. In all cases, and I will state an unequivocal all, the answers have been easy. And stated pretty early on very clearly and succinctly. The issue is rarely in finding the answer. Someone smatter than me has probably said this even better than I years ago. The issue is that it is hard to do. And hard to accept. And there will be a boatload of people who will fight the “easy,” and right, answer just because they will seek the gray within a black & white issue. This happens everywhere. But. As I said, this is a different post.
Beyond Jen several people have asked why I have written so much on this issue and invested so much energy on it.
Well. First and foremost I hate how the entire obesity issue consistently diminishes women’s self esteem and sets these incredibly stupid social standards. I know a number of women who certainly have fought weight issues but regardless are really attractive in the bodies they have. So all the scams and crap drive me nuts. Simply, with this first reason, I don’t like what this issue does to the women I care about and how it makes them feel about themselves and the unnecessary stress it puts on some pretty amazing, and beautiful, women.
Second. I think there is way too much “fluff” happening and being discussed around a really important issue. Too much rhetoric and not enough ‘hard decision making’ for fear it will be too polarizing or not ‘politically correct.’
Is my thought the best one? Heck. I don’t know. But I do know it would create a hellacious discussion and debate and maybe someone would get off their ass and decide the right thing to do and not what ‘looks good to do.”
Anyway. That said.
I have fought with weight stuff … or let’s say that I come from a family with weight issues and in my own way I am careful (in some ways) and I am surrounded by family who fight it, think about it and discuss it ad nauseam every day.
As for am I just spinning a theory here?
Well.
I won’t debate but I would like to think as my career has gone on and I have tried to learn as much as I can about behavior and the infamous JWT ‘stimulus-response’ as well as an earnest desire to strip away bullshit and focus on functional core to uncover the issue at hand that this is more than a theory but rather a solution to what is becoming an issue couched in politician speak and marketing aspirational verbiage rather than taking the hard road and attacking the issue.
(oh. And I just wrote an entire paragraph with one sentence)
Regardless. This ends my commentary on Unhealthy Eating. Well. At least for today. Unhealthy Eating 4 is on implementation.
advertising to kids and kids
Jul 9th
First. When I talk about advertising to kids I am talking about say kids up to 10 to 12. That appears to be the age everyone agrees on as being when a kid shifts mentally (or by psychological standards) into a state where they can judge truth versus non truth or thinking capabilities to assess messaging.
Second. While I have been in the business over 20 years I have never worked on a kid’s targeted product campaign. Not by choice simply I have never had the opportunity. Kid’s health education? Yes. Teens/tweens? Yes. Products for kids under 12? Nope.
Third. So. That said. If you are in marketing or advertising and you want to see what kind of game you have, go to a high school and bring up the topic of advertising to kids in a high school class.
Its game on.
In fact. I would rather take a meeting with AG Laffley and Jim Stengel (respectively, the past CEO and CMO of Proctor&Gamble) then 30 to 60 teens discussing this topic.
Now. To begin this discussion.
Let me begin with the silliest thing I have ever heard:
“When I was growing up, my mother told us if the product were that good, they wouldn’t have to advertise it. People would just buy it.”
Well. Sorry folks. We don’t work that way. Some incredibly great products have disappeared off shelves simply because not enough people bought them.
If a tree (product) falls in the woods (supermarket) and no one hears it (potential buyers) it definitely does not make a sound (no sales).
But.
What I have heard that is not silly is the robust level of skepticism and cynicism with regard to advertising.
Here is the overriding belief system in a high school class when you begin the discussion:
“They are in a way trying to trick you into thinking the product was better than it really was.”
In fact, their logic leads them to believe that was the same as lying.
Or.
“When I think how the marketers, advertisers & credit companies manipulate us in order to get our money, I get angry.”
One really smart kid sat up and started talking about “consumerism” as a disease created by advertising (I tried to bribe him with a Snickers bar to shut him up).
I pointed out to him that it is not consumerism.
It is called capitalism and if that is a disease then it is a disease that our country is actually built on. From day one anyone and everyone has had the freedom to innovate, create and sell to make a profit. That is the American economy. Like it or not. That is who we are and that is what makes America America.
Anyway. There you go.
Game on.
Where do I begin?
Choice.
People are going to make choices regardless. And kids are part of people. And parents typically hold the purse strings to those little people.
So. This discussion isn’t about products (because there are a shitload of products I would never allow get made let alone get near a kid). This is about marketing. Or educating choices.
And communicating that Cool is, well, cool. And maybe it would be cool if you owned this widget or that toy widget.
But.
The product experience is king.
“After begging for Spaghettios based on the claim that they are “mmm…mmm…good!” our then 6 year old son was furious to discover that “they lied! They are mmm…mmm…bad!” We asked him if he would have asked for them if the commercial said they were “mmm…mmm…bad” and you could just see the wheels turning in his head.”
Ok. The point here?
Bad products don’t last in the game. Is spaghettios still out there? You betcha. Because there are enough people who buy it that they (and their kids) say its mmmmmmmmmm good (not mmmmmmmmmmmmm bad).
Advertising may be able to fool some of the people some of the time but not all of the people all of the time. Oh. And never in the end.
If it’s not good it’s not good.
If it breaks it breaks.
If it’s not as cool as it looked on TV it’s not as cool
And all those experiences educate kids about choices.
Do I think advertising should be responsible for teaching kids this?
Nope. But it is a reflection of real life.
Learning what to believe, what to question and repercussions to decisions.
And marketing cannot teach kids the difference between “need and want.” (that is really a parent’s job).
Heck. All kids “want.” All advertising does is say “I know you want something (which is already in their energetic little minds) and I want you to want me more than something else you want.”
Some experts claim the result of advertising is “not only an epidemic of materialistic values among children, but also something he calls narcissistic wounding of children.” (and, teens being teens, they don’t use all these fancy schmancy words but they will suggest the same thing as you stand in front of the classroom).
And.
Another expert.
“Thanks to advertising children have become convinced that they’re inferior if they don’t have an endless array of new products.”
Me?
Pleeeeeease. C’mon.
Sure. Advertisers/marketers use knowledge (like psychologists) to understand how to communicate to kids. Some people are “outraged that psychologists and others are revealing such tidbits as why 3- to 7-year-olds gravitate toward toys that transform themselves into something else and why 8- to 12-year-olds love to collect things.”
So what? A manufacturer has a right to sell their products (once again … I want to delineate between the products and the marketing of those products … assume the product manufacturers have the best interest of the child in mind) and in a legally approved manufacturing process in a capitalistic society the manufacturer has the right to be as efficient as they possibly can in gaining knowledge that eliminates wasted efforts which ultimately lowers the costs of their products (which, oh by the way, benefits the final consumer).
By the way. Let me note that not a single study addressing ads’ impact on children has been conducted. So every single “expert opinion” is just that … an opinion. (The UK Government has picked up these concerns as part of the Children’s Plan and has commissioned an analysis of evidence on the effects of commercialization on children in order to understand more fully the benefits and downsides of children’s exposure to commercials).
Anyway. All these marketing efforts seem to work. According to marketing expert James U. McNeal, PhD, author of “The Kids Market: Myths and Realities” (Paramount Market Publishing, 1999), children under 12 already spend a whopping $28 billion a year. Teens spend $100 billion. (I am scratching my head over this … does anybody else wonder where the heck children under the age of 12 get or earn $28 billion dollars?).
Children also influence another $249 billion spent by their parents.
Marketing is always present in our lives and only become even more so with the explosion of the internet. For example the average child in the UK sees between 20,000 and 40,000 TV ads a year. And while TV advertising is heavily regulated, particularly with regard to foods high in sugar, salt and fat, far less regulation is applied to the internet and regulation that does exist is less stringently enforced than on broadcast media.
Hey. It’s not all bad. Even parents are vocal about the positive impact of pro-social messages, for example those encouraging recycling or driving at slower speeds.
Despite how parents may feel about this topic (apparently about 84% in UK are concerned about advertising targeted to their kids) neither parents nor children can escape the commercial world.
And I am not a parent but I have certainly see the despair as the weekly trip to the supermarket descends into tears and tantrums leaving them feeling like villains or weak as they ‘give in.’
Pester power is only too real for them and they wish it would just go away so they could focus on other things. (But. It would be foolish for us in this world of 24/7 web access and knowledge to suggest advertising is the issue. It can increase awareness of something. It can make you aware of something new – a fad, a product or maybe even a real educational aspect.)
Anyway. That is certainly a real, if not anecdotal, parental life experience.
Regardless.
At its worst advertising manipulates children.
And at its best it educates children.
And at all times it is informing choices which are ultimately made not in the advertising, or by the advertising, but by a person.
Now. I firmly believe advertisers have ethical responsibilities especially when it comes to children.
But I believe the larger ethical issue is in telling the truth … not shades of the truth but the truth.
But it’s tricky (I put this entire discussion as a discussion of one huge long slippery slope when talking with high schoolers).
The discussion is a tangled discussion of economics and marketing techniques used by companies to encourage people to part with their money. Teens certainly recognize if the tactics companies used to market a product to people were more obvious then its possible kids would become more resistant to the lure of the product/claim as presented in commercials and slowly learn to be more discerning about their validity. (and one of my solutions – thought 2 at the end – takes this one on)
I do know that I personally (having been in the business) do NOT like the idea that people look at marketing and think “sometimes people say things that aren’t true” and that it was okay for people to question what they saw and heard in marketing. No. I don’t like that.
I do know companies need money to stay in existence and they have to sell things to do that and convincing people to buy their products is simple economics of survival. I just don’t like the “they aren’t saying true things.” (and I take this one on in solution thought 3 at the end)
I do suggest to teens that given America’s belief in capitalism we shouldn’t be discussing advertising but rather maybe it is more about raising smarter consumers.
Think about kids busily soaking paper towels and loading them with various toys testing the claim that the towels were so strong they could carry heavy loads even when wet.
Then find the claim was true and insisting on using nothing but this particular brand of towel in the future.
This is marketing at its best. Truth in communications. Product delivering on promise. Happy buyer. Happy user.
Eventually, the lessons of trusting your own judgment, testing the claims of others, and discovering true value will have value in kids’ everyday lives beyond judging the advertising evil empire.
Dan Jaffe, the executive vice president of the Association of National Advertisers, says that the industry self-regulates children’s advertising, because they recognize kids are more vulnerable. But he says that in our culture, kids need to learn how to handle advertising:
“What they’re trying to suggest there is that somehow that we can cocoon kids. Then the question is how long? Are we talking up ‘til 12, are we talking up ‘til 18 as some people have proposed? We don’t think that advertising harms kids as long as there is parental intervention.”
It’s a slippery slope when I say this but I have no issues with advertising on products that could be considered either good for children or neutral. I say is a slippery slope because where does the line get drawn? Sweden, Ireland, Greece, Italy, Denmark and a couple other countries I believe have bans on advertising to children under 12. In Sweden they believe because of the way a child’s brain works, it is “not fair play.” I don’t know that I agree 100% with that. But regardless. We aren’t Sweden, Ireland, Greece or whomever. We are the good ole USofA. If we want to change our culture then I will be first in line to make some suggestions (and maybe advertising is one part but I could think of at least 5 other things that would change our materialistic attitude in the USA before I would touch advertising).
And. Is a branded website with educational content the same as a TV spot with cartoons and adorable animals? Is a clown handing out balloons a form of guerrilla marketing? It’s all advertising. And putting a ban on such a massive nebulous thing isn’t the answer.
And, if you conclude your discussion in a high school class on this topic, even teens see the dilemma. That it is not a black & white issue.
But.
I hate writing about things and not offering solutions.
Thought 1. Don’t ban advertising to kids under 12. Silly reason but it just ain’t the American way. If the American way (culture/economy underpinnings) change than I would consider a ban.
Thought 2. While ultimately I believe it’s up to parents to guide their children and balance exposure of marketing messages I would hold manufacturers (and their messaging partners) to a higher standard. A much higher standard.
And I am going balance this thought by being sure I offer an economic outlet to manufacturers while putting a more expensive challenge to them in the messaging guidelines.
Part a: because I m going to suggest more stringent messaging demands make all advertising targeted to kids under 12 :60 commercial minimum and offer them special media rates (a discount) for the longer advertisement ad space.
Part b: the more stringent messaging demand. If you are going to market to kids the messaging has to be comparative. No ifs, ands or buts. Make the choice as clear as possible. Or maybe make the benefit as clear as possible.
Legos? Its fun but we know by learning to put our silly little blocks together increases critical thinking skills. (plus. they are WAY cooler then when we were growing up)
X toy? Well. We have no redeeming value but if you play with us in front of other kids they may think you are cooler.
Barbie? We don’t have proof but what we believe is that making children aware of the positives of plastic surgery enhancement at an early age will help hem understand self esteem (and self confidence) thru their body image.
Shit. I don’t care.
The point is telling the truth in a way so that a kid hears the choice and the parent has an opportunity to say “well, we don’t want it because of x.”
And while I believe cereals in general do a really good job of communicating real benefits even they could take a step further … “hey, yeah, here is sugar on our cereal, but its actually about portion control, or less waste. With light sugar kids are more likely to eat smaller portions, all of it and absorb all the nutrients needed. The box lasts longer and kids get what they need.”
Do you like it? Heck. I don’t know. But it’s the truth. And if you want a non-sugar cereal that the kid doesn’t always eat. Well. That is you choice to make.
Sure. This could get quickly into the absurd zone. Someone smarter than I could insure it doesn’t.
Thought 3: I end each discussion (if it is not discussed within the class itself) with my biggest issue and thought.
My issue is with the advertising & marketing people themselves. The industry.
I have seen the enemy and it is us.
Despite the fact you could probably corner every marketing person in the world and they would state unequivocally “we always tell the client the right thing to do” let’s be honest.
What Alex Bogusky of Crispin stands up and says is the right thing to do is different than Joe Blow from Idaho.
(I bring up Alex because while I have the utmost respect for him I didn’t agree with a recent blog and solution – of a ban – he outlines … agreed with intent didn’t agree with solution)
This is where I have to take it on the chin when talking with a high school class.
I cannot defend what some people in our industry have created. And I don’t try. I admit some marketing is irresponsible.
I don’t know how to do it but certain people in the communications industry and in the business world need to step up to the plate and start behaving like human beings with some ethics (or values … or whatever you want to call them). We need to go to a higher level of responsibility when we are talking about anything to do with kids. A MUCH higher level.
And sometimes I am not sure it is just the people who haven’t had significant training (you know … the local people who say “well, I can do it as well a the big boys can so I will develop the messaging at half the cost and it will be even better because I won’t over think it.”). While I certainly have concerns with that tier of marketing professionals I also think the big boys & girls need to step up to the plate.
Anyway.
Our industry has manipulated the truth for decades (omission of information to me is manipulation). And there is a significant tier of “irresponsible out of ignorance” marketer suppliers.
Somehow we need to be sure that people developing the messaging know what they are doing. All levels of expertise.
So. In the end, I believe making ads for children with integrity is the solution, not banning advertising/marketing to kids.
Anyway. Enough about that.
Regardless of your opinion on this, if you want to see what kind of game you have?
Go to a high school and stand up in front of a bunch of teens and talk about it. Game on. I dare you.
