Spoken word performance: “Old Ethan, Up Against a Deadline”
This one is actually fun. And pretty damned cynical about the world of business and advertising, to boot.
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A simple country boy’s solution to the budget “crisis”
Some conservatives see all these fact-laden critiques of our various GOP manufactroversies (see Ryan, Paul) and wonder where are the Democratic plans to solve the financial crisis? (I have been asked this, quite vehemently, myself.) The informed reply goes something like this: The crisis isn’t real. It’s been fabricated by the neo-liberal politicians whose goal is to eliminate all taxes
Read moreYou call this swill chile verde? (Why consumer review services like Yelp are useless)
Whom do we trust when we’re looking for information? Increasingly, research shows that Americans are more likely trust friends, peers and word-of-mouth over “experts.” For instance: A 2007 eMarketer survey of the most trusted sources of information for US consumers was topped by “friends, family and acquaintances” and “strangers with experience.” These sources outranked “teachers” and “newspapers and magazines.” A
Read moreHard times for the pure of heart: is it possible to live ethically in modern society?
I think we’d all love to live every phase of our lives in happy accord with high moral and ethical principles. We’d love it if we were never confronted by logical contradictions and cognitive dissonance, by cases where our walk was at odds with our talk. But the truth is that we live in a society that’s complex, at best,
Read moreAnalysis: Dillard’s and an unsatisfying response on the Heroic Media controversy
Earlier today I offered some comments on the trending controversy surrounding Dillard’s and its involvement in an upcoming Houston event staged by anti-abortion advocate Heroic Media. That article noted some parallels with last year’s dust-up involving Target and Tom Emmer, a social reactionary running for Minnesota governor. My friend and colleague, Sara Robinson, turns out to be a devoted Dillard’s
Read moreTarget/Minnesota Forward and Dillard’s/Heroic Media: seven principles for corporate giving (UPDATED)
Dillard’s operates 330 stores across 29 states, including nine here in Colorado. I have, in the past, been a Dillard’s customer, but am afraid they have now earned their way onto the growing list of places I will no longer be able to patronize in good conscience. In August of 2010 I spent some time analyzing one of the more
Read moreArianna Antoinette: “Let the motherfuckers eat cake”
A few weeks ago I asked a question: is the Huffington Post a force for good or a liberal sweatshop? In the wake of HuffPo‘s megamillion-dollar sale to AOL, it struck me as appropriate to question the ethics behind an allegedly progressive business operating in a fashion that was indistinguishable from the greedmongering corporate entities it professed to oppose. I
Read moreThe Huffington Post: force for good or liberal sweatshop?
I promised myself that I’d hold fire for a few days when the AOL/Huffington Post deal was announced. My initial reaction was that the sale shone a bright light on some dysfunctional dynamics within the “progressive” media sphere (and this was even before I read Dr. Denny’s outstanding take the other day on how we’re all just serfs in the
Read moreThe University of Colorado provides a handy how-not-to lesson in re-branding
The University of Colorado recently announced that it “will be phasing out its hodgepodge of logos, replacing them with a standard CU symbol.” University spokesman Ken McConnellogue says that “It’s important for the University of Colorado to be consistent and coordinated with its messages and images. In a world where people are bombarded by images and messages, we can’t afford
Read moreOne reason why you didn’t get the job you were perfect for: can we ask companies to stop the fake job Dog & Pony Show process?
Millions of Americans are looking for jobs, and they’re using a wide range of approaches: want ads, online job boards, headhunters and recruiters, networking, these are common approaches. But in an environment where there are far fewer jobs than candidates, none of them are working especially well. Sometimes, though, you wonder how you missed out. In the past 10-15 years
Read moreAmericans and employment: the dehumanizing toll of efficiency
A few years ago I invented a word: euphemasia , a hybrid between euphemism and euthanasia. euphemasia – noun: the act of putting the truth out of its misery by cynically substituting an inoffensive expression for one that is considered offensive or damaging to the personal, political or economic interests of the party using the term. Also, the inverse, cynically
Read moreGallup poll reveals that public questions PR industry credibility: are PR practitioners to blame?
A Gallup poll released in August indicated that the advertising and PR industries aren’t viewed very favorably by the American public. One-third of respondents voiced a positive view of the advertising/pr industry (6 percent “very,” 27 percent “somewhat”). Twenty-seven percent were “neutral.” Twenty-five percent expressed a “somewhat negative view,” while 11 percent were “very negative.” (The rest didn’t venture an
Read moreAmusing ourselves to death, circa 2010
This is the future – people, translated as data. – Bryce, Network 23 The future has always interested me, even when it scares me to death. I wrote a doctoral dissertation that spent a good deal of time examining our culture’s ideologies of technology and development, for instance (and built some discussion of William Gibson and cyberpunk into the mix).
Read moreMad Men no longer stride the Earth
As I’m sure you’ve heard, Mad Men is quite hot right now. I haven’t watched it yet, although I plan on renting season one in the near future because everybody I know tells me it’s the greatest thing since the invention of vacuum tubes. For those who don’t know anything about the behind-the-scenes machinations of the agency world, I imagine
Read moreSaturday (Night) Video Roundup: manscaping
Probably my favorite ad on TV right now – I think it’s even better than the much-vaunted Old Spice campaign.
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lullaby pit 