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.