When the #OccupyWallStreet protestors get tired of the financial district, they can always hoof it over to Madison Avenue, where in one of life’s little ironies, Advertising Week is kicking off. Even as runaway greed is lambasted on Wall Street, festering consumerism is encouraged at the eighth annual seminar/festival/networking event for more than 70,000 advertising […]

Is it possible that someday we’ll look back wistfully at the age of Facebook and fondly recall when we were “friends” with everyone on the playground, even the smelly kids? As we await our Google+ invitations, the world shifts. Facebook has made us more like those guys were at the end of The Breakfast Club, […]

I’m so glad I stumbled across Erik Proulx, his blog Please Feed the Animals, and this film, Lemonade. It begins from the old saying about how, when life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade (although I have to say, I prefer Tina’s version: “When life gives you lemons, throw those suckers in the garbage!”). […]

This isn’t the monthly Facebook-has-jumped-the-shark warning that people post in seeming anticipation. But with all the discussion of privacy concerns in light of Facebook’s last round of “upgrades,” I am wondering if it’s all gone too far. And I’m not talking about invasions of privacy. It’s not just the privacy concerns, which almost block out […]

Nothing quite sums up the differences between print and new media like the January 2010 cover of Golf Digest. Print — despite the likely fervent wishes to the contrary of the editors who came up with, “10 Tips Obama Can Take From Tiger” — is forever. The story is not available online but promises, “Writers […]

The four P’s of marketing are product, price, place (as in, where the product – or service – is available), and promotion. Marketers should have a role in designing the product, ostensibly because we know what the public wants. So who, I’m wondering, wants a cocktail carousel? Let’s look at the original product: a bottle […]

Everyone has their favorite time-waster web site, where they go to confirm the superiority of their personal tastes over others. People of Wal-Mart certainly springs to mind. But for a real look into the psyche of Americans, not to mention their living rooms, I love the Better Homes and Gardens “100 Days of Holidays,” where […]

I’ve been listening to the free Marc Maron podcast since it started a few weeks ago. Maron, a former member of Air America’s “Morning Sedition” show, interviews other comedians and provides general commentary on subjects ranging, so far, from Whole Foods to Facebook. And his comments about Facebook have me thinking. Even though I’ve been […]

When I heard fashion and design are revisiting the ’80s this fall, I had mixed feelings. For one thing, who doesn’t look better with shoulder pads? On the other hand, there was some really stupid stuff back then. Surely, for example, we don’t need to revive Members-Only jackets or parachute pants. And then I opened […]