Consuming the Christmas spirit... one present at a time

I was watching CP 24 earlier this evening so that I could see the hour when Santa came on tv and answered phone calls from local children. I thought, what an awesome idea! Letting kids talk to Santa would be a great way for me to bolster my Christmas spirit, which has been flagging a little this year. Boy was I wrong!

As I sat on my couch for a few minutes and started listening to the program, I realised that something was horribly wrong. A little girl, around two years old, had called Santa to ask for a digital camera. The shocked announcer asked if she knew how to use one to which she responded "Of course! Mommy lets me use hers, but I want one of my own."

I had to get up and turn off the tv. What, I asked myself, is wrong with this world that a two-year old will only feel happy if she has the latest in digital technology? As I started thinking more about Christmas, I realised that a lot of my disillusionment stems from the strong link to consumerism that the holiday has developed within the past little while.

I decided that the only way for me to get rid of these "holidays blahs" was to go online and see if I could find anything that might bring me out of my holiday-induced funk. I discovered an entry on the Streams of Hope blog that directed me to the Doctors Without Borders' Top 10 Humanitarian Crises of 2008, which brought everything into a sharp focus. Perspective restored, and holiday cheer brought back if somewhat muted, I have remembered the more important message of the holiday: spending time with loved ones and appreciating what you've got.

Happy holidays to everyone!

Fashionable drunk to stay

The Fashion Design Council of Canada announced today that Robin Kay, the president, will not be fired. After making a drunken speech almost two weeks ago at Toronto Fashion Week, the Council met and decided to keep her. This, after l'Oreal, the main sponsor of the event pulled out.

The chair, Joseph Mimran, stated that l'Oreal being replaced by LG had nothing to do with Kay's behaviour. Interesting. Do major sponsors usually drop out of large events for no reason? I was under the impression that this wasn't a common practice, clearly I was wrong.

Joseph Mimran's statements beg the question: How can you distance yourself from such a mess up when you make no effort to other than let time pass by? The answer is that you can't. The FDCC is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, instead they're doing drunken clean up.

Future voters unite! ...with bracelets?

I was Christmas shopping today and trying to find something to get for stocking stuffers for my Mum. Naturally, I went into Claire's, which always has bracelet charms and other nifty things to stick in stockings. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything, but on the plus side, I found these.

The first thing that I thought was "Why would these be here? Voting in the States is done." Then I almost slapped myself upside the head after realizing what I had thought. I consider myself to be politically active and I like to keep up to date with politics, but what does it say when voting is mentioned that I automatically think about the US?

It's probably a good thing that Michaëlle Jean agreed to prorogue parliament on December 4th, because with the mess that we're currently facing, I don't even want to think about voting again.

The conference is on!

Happy day! After many months of planning, my pet project will be happening on February 13, 2009. More info to come as I get working on it.

Cheers!

Your soul for a plastic bag, Mr Miller

After a meeting with Galen G. Weston, Toronto mayor David Miller is proposing to move the plastic bag ban deadline back from December 2009 to February 2011. I find myself reminded of the spring bear hunt fiasco that went down with Mike Harris.

In 1999, Mike Harris was persuaded (read: given money) to discontinue the spring bear hunt. Bear populations have since risen to the point where it's common to see a black bear within city limits in Northern Ontario.

Miller is showing his true priorities beautifully by catering to large corporations within Toronto who really have no excuse when it comes to environmental issues.

Since taking over as executive chair in 2006, Weston has focused on promoting the environmentally-friendly line of products. In talking Mayor Miller into pushing back the dates for the plastic bag ban, Weston is showing his true colours. Weston is obviously more interested in making a profit than helping to reduce the environmental impact that his stores make.

If the biosphere is destroyed because of your lack of involvement, who will you sell your products to Mr. Weston?

Buyology looks at how consumers tick

I stumbled on Martin Lindstrom's site recently and I must say that I'm impressed. He talks a lot about product placements in tv shows and movies and how marketing needs to change. This idea resonates with me in particular after finding that my favourite show, the Biggest Loser, has become riddled with product placements to the point where I'm not sure if the show is really 'real' anymore.

Lindstrom talks about Buyology, his brainchild, which is the revolutionary coupling of science and marketing techniques to identify what really works with marketing. The results, thusfar, have been enlightening to say the least. Studies have revealed that certain types of product placements can have deletrious effect on brand recognition instead of spurring purchasing.

Martin drops tantalizing hints about the information that can be found within his book in his video reports from Adage.com, unfortunately the full information can only be found in his book.

Updates to come when I get it!

Nestle bottled water a source of controversy

Nestle is doing what it's done best lately: stir up controversy. The company is now claiming that bottled water is "the most environmentally responsible consumer product in the world." Sounds too good to be true, right? Exactly. The statistics thrown up by Nestle are convincing on surface, but a little more research is required before everything comes to light. Companies selling bottled water are in trouble, particularly in Toronto and London where bottled water bans will potentially go into effect in 2009.

Nestle's CEO, Kim Jeffery, made a speech at the Beverage Forum in May 2008 to correct what he calls the "seven myths about bottled water." As I watched the video of the highlights, I realised that the "corrections" presented by Mr. Jeffery didn't have any numbers behind them. Where were the statistics supporting his arguments? What I did notice was that argument #3 "No one in our [beverage] industry... is doing enough to prevent plastic from going into landfills" held the most statistics but they didn't really support his argument. He argues that the industry does a lot to prevent this and that banning bottled water won't actually have an effect on this issue.

Jeffrey notes that 25% of plastic bottles are recycled, but blames the 75% that go to waste facilities on the lack of availability of curb-side recycling programs. What he fails to note is that bottled water is a contributing factor to this problem. He doesn't acknowledge that Nestle is contributing to this problem and instead shifts the blame to the cities and consumers. That's a great way to retain a customer base.

One of Nestle's main values is respect for people, community, and the environment. I'm curious as to how they're living up to these values when they keep trying to pull wool over everyone's eyes.

IABC rubs elbows with Dostoevsky and Tchaikovsky

The latest Toronto IABC event e-mail was sent out today and I browsed over it thinking that the holiday event was an awesome idea. Who wouldn't love celebrating the holiday season at an authentic Russian bar stocked with over 70 different types of vodka?

I kept reading the brochure that was sent out and finally came to the bottom where something seemed a little odd. The tag line for the event read "Join the Communist (cator) party" with the 'st' crossed out and 'cator' written in.

I've got two issues with this:

1. Communism isn't really something to joke about - especially not where Russia is concerned. They've got a long and somewhat ugly history with communism.

2. There's a Communist Party of Canada. Why cause confusion by seeming to endorse the party?

I'm assuming that someone on the design team was trying to be cute and play with Pravda's tag line (Join the communist Pravda vodka bar party - with communist crossed out)but, in my opinion, it failed miserably. I'm left wondering at the appropriateness of using that as a tag line and whether or not the IABC is sending out exactly the message that they want to be sending. Perhaps IABC should think their tag lines out a little more carefully for next time.

As they say in Russia, chtob vse byli zdorovy!

Mustangs stampede the Vanier Cup

The Vanier Cup is the crown jewel of Canadian University football. This was the first year that I attended, mostly because it's been a while since Western has made it.

I was really impressed with the level of management that I saw at the game. Ontario University Athletics (one of the organizing bodies) had its own event management staff present and so did the Ivor Wynne Stadium, Western, and Laval. The city of Hamilton even had a presence with their boys in blue.

It was a good thing that the police were at the game; over 16,000 people attended and a few of the fans did get a little out of hand. I witnessed a Laval fan waltzing over into the Western side of the seating and harass some of the Western fans so much that a beer bottle was chucked at his head (yes, it did connect).

All in all, the crowd was controlled really well by all of the event management staff around the stadium. The game went smoothly with only a few small hiccups that weren't even noticeable enough to make the news. It just goes to show that after 43 years, they've got it down to a science.

Dance Piper, dance!

Many people are familiar with the Brothers Grimm story, the Pied Piper of Hamelin. What a lot of people don't know is that it's based off a true story from Hamelin, Germany, dating back to 1284.

Interestingly enough, history seems to be repeating itself. Hamelin is experiencing a boom in the rat population unfortunately, the Pied Piper has yet to show up. An abandoned garbage dump has fostered a burgeoning population of rats, which are now flooding into the city and causing problems.

Ironically enough, the 725th anniversary of the Pied Piper is coming up soon and with the city finally admitting that they have a rat problem, maybe they're hoping that the Piper will show up again to help out?

I can't really criticize Hamelin about their image; the city is famous for having a rat problem. I guess I can only hope that the city pays the Piper this time.

Cities against Toronto? Jealous, jealous, jealous!

Toronto is the city that everyone loves to hate, right? Wrong! Since November 2007, the Toronto Star has been running a column called Acts of Kindness that highlights random acts of kindness that are "committed" around the GTA. Articles are submitted by readers who want to share any acts that have happened to themselves or someone that they know.

After reading last month's stories, I started wondering why David Miller doesn't try to capitalize on this column and use it to improve the image of Toronto? Toronto as a brand is recognizable world-wide and positively received, so why is it that the opinion of Toronto within North America is so negative?

I guess it doesn't really matter right now. What does matter is that nothing is being done to make the brand image a more positive one or to find out why Toronto has become the butt of so many jokes.

Coke sells its soul for a polar bear

Coke is starting a campaign in honour of its mascot - the polar bear! Coca Cola has pledged to donate $100,000 dollars to World Wildlife Fund this holiday season to help protect polar bears and their arctic habitat. Sounds awesome, right? I thought so too until I noticed an asterix after the $100,000 on the site, so I scrolled down and found this:

"If 1,400,000 are entered at iCoke.ca between 12:00:00am EDT November 1 – 11:59:59pm EST December 31, 2008, Coca-Cola Ltd. will make a $100,000 contribution to polar bear conservation efforts. PIN under cap = 500 iCoke Coins. PIN expires November 1, 2009."

Pardon me? An ultimatum? How ridiculous is that? If you crunch the numbers, then Coke is only donating $0.06 per 591mL bottle or 12 pack of Coke sold!

Coca Cola is a large corporation and can definitely afford to be donating $100,000 to World Wildlife Fund without consumer support, never mind having to put a condition on the donation so that they can afford the donation. Coke is trying to generate good press for themselves by what appears to be a charitable gift, when in reality they are still making a profit off this deal and saving face. I think if people become aware of the conditions placed on this donation, there will be negative backlash against the Coke brand which will ultimately hurt the brand and potentially even the World Wildlife Fund brand also.

For shame, Coke, for shame.

[UPDATE: Analysis of post-campaign now posted here!]

Hello iceberg! Government of Canada makes warfare a game

I was watching tv last night and I saw a commercial that I thought was for a new war game. Imagine my surprise when the poppy coin logo came up and the announcer advised me to "keep the memory alive" by keeping a poppy circulation coin.

I sat there stunned for a minute before I could really process that this was a serious ad to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I. I have to wonder who was asleep at the PR wheel for this one. I also have to wonder what the government was thinking when they approved the release of this ad. I'm guessing that they're trying to reach younger audiences and thought that video games were the way to go?

A completely CGI commercial gives the whole experience a surreal feeling and, in my opinion, makes a mockery of this historic event. Who knew the Government of Canada held our veterans in such low regard?

The Body Shop

I was recently sent an invite to join a group on facebook, encouraging me to boycott the Body Shop for ethical reasons. I have to admit that I was a little confused at this point. The Body Shop is the most ethically-based company that I can think of. So I did a little research and came up with some disturbing results. It turns out that The Body Shop was bought out by l'Oreal in 2006.

If Anita Roddick, the founder of The Body Shop, were still alive today I would love to ask her why she sold her company to one whose values so clearly clash with her own. First and foremost, The Body Shop is against animal testing. Period. The company was founded with the belief that animals shouldn't be subjected to testing for the development of beauty products. Roddick also believed that the beauty industry put too much emphasis on being perfect and that the industry should instead focus on enhancing the natural beauty of women.

Where are those values now? The Body Shop's site still preaches that animal testing isn't condoned by The Body Shop, but its parent company still uses it so how can this be? The severe clashing of brand values brought Anita Roddick under fire after the selling of her company but it didn't seem to make a difference. The sale still went on and despite initial protests, the sales for The Body Shop are close to their pre-sale values.

I guess you could say that selling her company was a smart move money wise on Roddick's part, but was it worth it when you take into account the damage that it caused to the brand, was it really?

Halloween: re-branded and re-done

Happy Hallowe'en! Or should I say Happy Samhain? Depending on your religious beliefs and whether or not you were born these last two centuries, the answer may be different.

Samhain is the end of the Druidic year when the Druids believed that the lines between the living and the dead were blurred and souls of the dead would return and roam around with the living. Feasts were held in honour of the dead but, the dead weren't mourned, they celebrated in memory of their lives.

With the increase in popularity of Christianity in the 800s, Christian leaders began looking for ways to convert the pagan population. The best way to do this? Re-branding pagan holidays to incorporate Christian ideals.

First, All Soul's Day was created so that the people could remember their dead and have a feast in their honor. Sound familiar? Only, this feast was a Christian one, with praying to the appropriate saints included.

It was a brilliant move on the part of the Christians! Re-branding Samhain to Hallowe'en was a smart way to bring over reluctant followers who still wanted to hold on to the old ways, not to mention it created a sense of history for Christianity in Ireland when the religion was new to the area. I guess you could call Christians the original brand managers.

Happy Samhain everyone!

Wal-mart insists "only the small survive"

I was watching tv last night when a commercial for Wal-mart came on and I nearly killed myself laughing. The general gist of the commercial is that Wal-mart is lowering their prices on the majority of items in response to the current economic crunch being faced around the globe. What had me laughing so hard and wondering at the same time who forgot to proof this commercial was the line recited by a manager to an employee "only the small survive."

At best, this can be considered to be a slip of the tongue, as Wal-mart has been hounded for the past while over its tendency to out-compete smaller, locally owned businesses. A google search of "walmart small business" results in over 3.5 million hits, most of which criticize the company for under-pricing their items in order to force the closure of competitors and ensure a monopoly on the market. At worst, this off-hand comment can be seen as antagonistic and arrogant, coming from a company that is so large and successful at establishing itself in areas despite local protests, that Wal-mart comes across as being callous and a bit spiteful.

Wal-mart has been the butt of many jokes, the best of which, in my opinion, was from the Onion in 2005. Lo and behold! PR is actually mentioned! It might be time for Wal-mart to take PR a little more seriously.

Thusfar, only a few people have picked up on the "only the small survive" commercial and written about it, I suspect it's only a matter of time until Wal-mart's corporate image is tarnished a little more with this most recent slip up.

This begs the question: who was asleep at the PR wheel and why didn't anyone notice the iceberg they were sailing towards?

Banrock Station: the environmentally aware wine

I was surfing around on the Ducks Unlimited site when I came across a list of their partners and was surprised to find one that didn't seem to fit. It was for Banrock Station, a winery in Australia that so happens to make my drink of choice.

It turns out that Banrock Station prides themselves on being an environmentally friendly and aware brand. To date, they've put $5,000,000 AUD towards conservation, area rehabilitation, and wetland restoration.

Banrock Station focuses on wetlands in particular because they are an integral part of the biosphere, particularly in Australia where over 50% of them have been destroyed. The winery has even gone so far as to restore their main vineyard back to a wetland and have added guided tours and an educational centre focusing on the importance of wetlands.

I have to raise a glass and toast Banrock Station for choosing a seemingly-unrelated cause and doing so well with it. Right down to their company welcome page, Banrock Station makes it clear that their dedication to the environment is one of the fundamental principles that the winery was founded upon, instead of the company following the current "green" trend.

Cheers!

Youth + politics = oil + water?

As you may be aware, yours truly participated in Me to We day this past week. I was thrilled to find out that despite being a volunteer at a booth outside of the Ricoh arena, I was still allowed to watch the majority of the speakers perform. I was even more thrilled to find out that Justin Trudeau would be speaking and that I would have time to stop and listen to him.

First of all, understand that he has a presence and it's an even bigger one in person than on television. He is absolutely mind-blowing to listen to in person! Justin managed to hook me into his speech (see clip 6) right from the beginning:

"As my good friend John Turner, former prime minister, just said: 'young people don't tend to get involved enough in politics.' And for me it's easy to say 'it's young people's fault not to get involved,' but more I think it's politics' fault not doing enough to bring in young people."

I did listen to his entire speech, but that first point of his got me thinking. It's true that youth aren't really involved in politics. I'm only getting into it now myself because I am of an age where I'll be taking all of the big life steps soon (e.g. buying a house, getting married) and the way that the country is run will affect me more profoundly than it previously did. When I first went to university, I saw politics as something that you were interested when you were older because there was no way that any politician would've cared about my opinion.

After listening to Justin's speech, I realize that I was probably right at that point, however students entering university now thinking what I did are probably wrong. As the baby boomers age, the political arena is going to undergo a drastic change and (hopefully) be more youth-friendly.

The beginnings of these changes can be seen today: Justin Trudeau was elected MP in the Montreal riding of Papineau on October 14th. Today's youth will be looking to Justin to increase awareness of the issues close to their hearts in the political arena and at the country-wide level. Justin Trudeau is a well known activist for many different issues, in particular the empowerment of youth. I believe that Justin is just the man to be getting youth more involved with politics and how the country is run.

Justin is a new breed of politician who listens to all generations and is more than willing to dive in and get his hands dirty. All too often, I've felt that my representative didn't represent my ideas and views and that I probably wouldn't be listened to because I am so young. Justin Trudeau's ideas of "building personal connections" is exactly what I think politics should be all about. Hopefully he can spread his ideals around in the political arena and they finally get picked up by the other powers that be.

Me to We day 2008

Free the Children's second annual Me to We day was held today at the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto. It was my first time volunteering at/attending Me to We day and I've gotta say that I was impressed. For such a large-scale event, it was very well organized. My volunteer training the night before was a little rushed, but I realized the next morning that this was a necessity and that the best way to learn was on the "job".

Over 8000 students came from all over North America to listen to Justin Trudeau, Michel Chikwanine, Mia Farrow, and other speak, as well as musical guests Crash Parallel, Sarah Mclachlan, and others. The main message of the conference centres around youth empowerment: age doesn't matter - you can make a difference. It was definitely inspiring to listen to the variety of speakers that Free the Children had lined up for the day, ranging from the political (John Turner) to the emotionally-gripping and awe-inspiring (Michel Chikwanine).

Me to We day succeeded in motivating me to think about Free the Children as more than just another charity for helping those in need. Don't get me wrong, but there are a lot of charities out there helping people in need by one method or another. Me to We got me thinking about Free the Children as something that will help both people in need and the people doing the helping. So often, youth hear about the terrible things that are going on in the world and feel unable to do anything about it. Me to We day proves them wrong by showing them how to act and how to make a difference.

Bravo, Free the Children. I'm looking forward to next year.

Gumming up The Biggest Loser

I usually make it a point not to watch reality tv. Most of the shows are either really obviously scripted or just so ridiculous that I can't take it seriously, however I have to admit that I've recently acquired a guilty pleasure: The Biggest Loser. It's a feel-good kind of show that you can actually believe in. Or so I thought.

About three episodes into this season, I noticed Jillian (my favourite trainer and all-around hard ass) pushing a new Motorola product on one of the contestants as a workout aid. I figured it was probably a good idea, afterall the product is a lot like an ipod only it has a built-in belt clip. What's not to like? Or so I thought.

Last week's episode involved a painfully-obvious attempt at selling gum. Not any gum though, low cal gum! Low cal gum that can reduce your sweet craving! Sounds good, except that's pretty much verbatim for what one of the contestants said. I have to start questioning, is Extra writing a script now? This "candid" moment brought to you by Extra! Cringe-worthy.

I have no issues with product placement within a show, but when it's obvious, it gets really annoying. Annoying to the point where I won't buy the product because they're just trying too hard and I have to wonder what's wrong with the product that it can't be sold in a commercial. I know that associating low cal gum with The Biggest Loser makes sense from a brand values perspective, I have to wonder if this helps the gum or hurts the show. My vote is on hurting.

Call me crazy - I love mental illness (awareness)!

I happened upon a blog this weekend being advertised by the Toronto Star that took me by surprise. The surprising thing was that this blog is about mental health and Sandy Naiman, the author, talks openly about her battles with mania.

I am in love with this blog! I love that Sandy takes these issues that are still taboo in society and talks about them openly. Even the title of the blog "Coming out crazy" creates a certain impression and sense of intrigue. Sandy explains that admitting to someone that you have a mental illness is similar to a gay or lesbian coming out of the closet 20 years ago.

There's this stigma associated with mental illness that only certain people will suffer from it or happens for a reason and it's never really possible to be fully cured or sane. Even the site for the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health's National Mental Illness Awareness Week has a kind of tone to it that, although positive, makes it seem that mental illness is a cross that you have to bear and that you need a lot of help and medication before you can "lead a productive and fulfilling life."



Interestingly enough, Canada Post is the main sponsor of Mental Illness Awareness Week. First of all, this brings "going postal" to mind and all of the associated negative stigmas. I have to wonder at Canada Post's motivation behind sponsoring this campaign. Admittedly, Canada Post is the first major Canadian corporation to adopt mental health as their pet cause, however I have to question whether or not this is the right company to promote mental health. Mail service has a negative association with mental health and CAMIMH is almost trying to re-brand mental illness to break away from the negative stereotypes and make it more personal and easier to relate to.

Fish to fry in Ontario

I was flipping through the Toronto Star, when I came across a short blurb about the Ringwood Fish Culture Station. Briefly mentioned is how the government opened the station in 1982 but was forced to cut funding in 2006. Not mentioned, is why the government opened the station.

During the 1980s, there was growing concern of the rapidly declining stocks of Canadian fish. In response to this, the government started to fund hatcheries in hopes of bolstering the declining populations and even re-introducing species to areas where they had been extirpated. Fisheries opened all over the country and the government kept pouring money into them, until budget cuts forced an end to the spending spree. What the government failed to inform that public was that the money spent on hatcheries might as well have been thrown into the water in hopes of a dam springing up.

Fish instinctively return to their hatching site for spawning, thus hatchery-born fish never stray very far away from where they were born, so it would be impossible to repopulate areas with hatchery-born fish unless the hatchery was near to the desired site. Unfortunately, most sites are so polluted or being used for other commercial purposes that setting up a hatchery there isn't possible. Also, because the fish are raised in artificial conditions, they are unable to attract a mate from the wild population because they haven't learned the proper mate attraction rituals.

As if it wasn't enough having the government pouring money into hatcheries, the article goes on to proudly state that the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters and the Toronto Sportsmen's Show raise $50,000 annually in order to keep the Ringwood facility running. My quibbles with this do no stem from the organizations that support the facility. On the contrary, I'm pro-fishing and pro-hunting. What does irritate me about this article is that the OFAH is using the fundraising as a PR gesture and it's an incredibly useless one at that. These associations should be focusing more on the conservation of key breeding habitat instead of funding breeding programs that have been shown, through scientific research, to be ineffective at best or harmful to the natural populations at worst. At least if their money is being spent on endeavours that can bring scientifically-proved benefits to the species, it can bring positive attention for both parties, which is something they could use considering the controversial nature of OFAH.

Agricultural minister in hot water

Gerry Ritz, the federal minister of agriculture, has recently been under fire for tasteless comments made at a government conference call about listeriosis. He opened the call with "This is like a death by a thousand cuts. Or should I say cold cuts." Later, after being informed of another death in PEI, he quipped "Please tell me it's Wayne Easter." Wayne Easter is a liberal MP in PEI who has followed Ritz's ministry closely. Ritz later apologized to Easter and to the public at a press conference on September 18th.

It's interesting that these comments are coming to light now, considering they were originally made on August 30th in a private conference call. The implications of these comments coming to light are astounding. On the one hand, the media is able to bring to light the minister's inappropriate use of gallows humour and make the him pay for his callous comments. On the other hand, this represents a breach of informational security from within the government.

Although currently a minority government, the government still needs to present a united front so that the public can have faith in their ability to lead the country. The current focus on everyone's mind seems to be the upcoming election, which will likely have us see a change in the political powers that be. Rather, the current focus on all politicians' minds is the election. The rest of the world is being thrown off by all of these "scandals" that keep popping up from within the Harper government.
I am mildly amused by the dirty tactics that are being used for this election; the Liberals must be really worried about the sway of the Conservatives if they're hounding Ritz so hard about a comment made during a private conference call. I won't support Ritz - his comments were completely inappropriate - however, the Liberals and NDP are positively drooling over this mess up and calling for his resignation. (I'm sure that it's not only the Liberals and the NDP that are coming up with these ideas, but they seem to be the most vocal when it comes to the news.) These parties are playing up the comments and downplaying the timing. Ritz's comments were made on August 30th, which was at the beginning of the crisis; when his comments are taken out of context, such as during the present day, they seem more cruel than they were meant to be.

Call me crazy, but shouldn't politics be more about public relations and less about backstabbing? With all of these scandal stories that have been leaking about the current government, I'm not so sure that I'm comfortable enough with the current state of all of the parties to vote. Here's hoping that something changes between now and October 14th.

Sanlu group baby formula recall

Now here's an interesting case of PR gone wrong. The largest producer of powdered milk in China, Sanlu Group, has been forced to recall their baby formula after melamine was found in the product. Melamine is a chemical that is high in nitrogen and is used in glue to promote thickening; it will boost the protein rating of a product because most standard tests measure nitrogen levels as the indication of protein levels. Thus far, the tainted milk has claimed the lives of four children. It is estimated that more than 6250 children have kidney stones due to the product.

Claims are arising that the company was aware of the problem with their baby formula as early as March, but the product recall on started Thursday, September 11th. In fact, up until last Friday, September 19th, the company's commercials for their baby formula were still accessible on the site. As of September 20th, the company's website has been shut down and visitors are greeted by an apologetic letter from the company's new chairman. The previous chairwoman was fired and then taken into custody. The mayor and deputy mayor of the corporate town were also fired, so were a handful of quality inspectors and the head of the government quality inspection office.

The way that Sanlu has handled this crisis can only be called a PR nightmare. I give them credit for firing the quality inspectors, government officials, and chairwoman, but the firing of their mayor seems questionable. Who are the people supposed to look to as a spokesperson during this crisis? The Prime Minister of New Zealand has stepped up to the plate, because Sanlu is 43% owned by a New Zealand dairy cooperative, however I have to question if she is the appropriate spokesperson. Sanlu is now trying to use their new chairman as their spokesperson, but I again question this. Their spokesperson should be someone trusted by the community, possibly even someone well known. Obviously, the chairman has been thrown in the deep end. I hope he can swim!

The downfall of plastic bottles?

Environmental groups have been advocating the evil of plastic bottles for years, mainly based on their nasty tendency to end up in landfills. Finally, a health-related reason to steer clear of plastic bottles!

A recent joint study through the University of Missouri and Environmental Health Sciences, a nonprofit organization, has found evidence that bisphenol A, BPA, is linked with an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes. This chemical is a hormone disruptor and has been linked with health problems even when found in small concentrations.

I'm not going to quibble over the details of the study. I do find it interesting that not many environmental groups have picked up on this. It seems to me that a study finding toxic chemicals in plastic bottles would bolster support for environmental groups that encourage the general public to stop using plastic bottles in favour of metal ones. I must confess that I am guilty of using the plastic bottle, but after reading the study, I suspect I'll soon convert to metal.

If you're interested, the article can be found here.

[Update: I bit the bullet and bought a metal bottle. I had to let it soak in water for a while before my drinks stopped tasting like metal, but I like it so far a lot better than plastic. No plastic taste anymore!]

Inspiration behind the URL

So a few people have asked me as to what the URL of my blog means. In return, I asked them what they thought I meant. So far I've gotten some interesting responses.

"elusive"
"desertification"
"loss of resources"
"time"

Personally, I was thinking along the lines of elusive. There's an image that pops into my head when I hear the phrase "a fistful of sand." I think of a child on the beach wanting to hold onto the moment for as long as possible, so they pick up a fistful of sand. The thing is, the harder they try to hold onto that fistful, the faster it slips away. To me, politics is a lot like that fistful of sand. The harder a person tries to hold onto the power that they've gained, the faster it slips away. Hence, "fists full of sand."