Check out this great presentation about generation Y’s perspectives and attitudes towards marketing and globalization today. Designed as a response to NASA’s strategic communications strategy released in ‘07, the presentation outlines the importance of engaging generation Y, and how organizations like NASA have, as of yet, failed to do so.

NASA Gen Y PDF (2.4 mb)

For more info, visit opennasa.com

Thursday I had the opportunity to tag along on the New Mexico Ad Federation’s luncheon with advertising legend and well-known author of “Hey Whipple, Squeeze This,” Luke Sullivan (a must-have book for anyone interested in not just advertising, but creativity in general).

Sullivan gave a presentation called “How to Suck Less,” formally titled “How Not to Suck.” Given that we’re all mere humans with a tendency to suck, Sullivan said he thought it more appropriate to retitle his presentation to something more realistic.

He described his transformation from a construction worker to Group Creative Director with more than twenty medals to his credit in the prestigious One Show, some of the more interesting adventures he’d had in his twenty-plus years of advertising experience and some tips on how to be better at anything. Yes, anything.

Among his tips; get rid of things that cause you to suck. Certainly tips we all can learn from, here are those he specifically pointed out:

• Laziness – although seemingly a no-brainer, Sullivan did point out that when you’re working a job you care about, this almost never comes up.
• Arrogance – don’t look down on the little jobs that come your way; they’re another chance to hone your craft.
• Get over yourself – if you believe that you’re a god in your field, it just becomes an excuse for complacency, and ultimately to suck.
• God is in the details – this is the sum of all the details put into a creation; make every little part better than it has to be.

So there you have some points to ponder. Go get his book if you’re looking for some inspiration mixed with humor.

(The picture up top is my freshly-inked copy of “Hey Whipple…” In case you’re wondering, it says “Go ye forth and rock!” Amen, Sullivan…)

Cookie Monster recently appeared in a candid and compelling interview on NPR, describing his nights freebasing raw dough, the days chasing Prarie Dawn and roughing up Elmo for lunch money… just kidding. The video’s pretty funny and definitely worth a watch:

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At a time when journalism is playing a more prevalent role in the information we have access to than ever before, it’s interesting to take a look at some of the new challenges facing the profession.

While the average person is more likely than ever before to be plugged into current events through journalism on the web, radio and in print, an interesting problem for the media as a whole has arisen.

As noted in this article that appears on fox news.com, “A new Harvard University study says nearly two-thirds of Americans do not trust campaign coverage by the news media — and more than 60 percent believe it is politically biased” (which is ironic enough given fox’s reputation for undermining the basic tenets of good journalism).

In other words, the main stream media is by and large distrusted by their audiences.

A multitude of factors have lead to this, not least of which is the conglomeration of the media. Now more than ever before, the nation’s news outlets are run by a small group of powerful corporate entities (i.e., Rupert Murdoch).

As the consolidation of the media occurs, the quality of the news we receive drops off because the reporting presented in the articles we read and view are more reflective of the corporate policies of the media outlet owners and advertisers.

On a smaller scale, this is demonstrated by the recent allegations of malfeasance and misconduct at the FCC in which the government agency is said to have destroyed a 2004 study on the implications of local media ownership. The study, which revealed that locally owned television stations provide more local news coverage, blatantly contradicts the FCC’s assertion that “commonly owned television stations are more likely to carry local news.”

Finally, if any one national event draws attention to this phenomenon more than any other, it is the upcoming presidential election.

The debates, which have been more like a circus act than an intellectual forum, are a strong example of how the media coverage often favors certain candidates over others in terms of time.

For example, take a look at the figures for the NBC GOP debate — some candidates weren’t even asked a question for a good 30 minutes into the debate.

illustration by Paul Gilligan

Watching the republican debates, the one impression I’ve consistently come away with is the lack of actual debating the politicians do. Where’s the open and respectful exchange and discussion of ideas and policy? Instead, it’s like first grade all over again with snide and irrelevant remarks shot back and forth again and again.

There is perhaps no better example of this than in the case of Ron Paul. I’ve found it remarkably disgusting how anytime Ron Paul speaks, he’s immediately talked over, the candidates sneer, the audience laughs, and the moderators make fun of him.

Even in this clip, Paul is posing a very valid argument, and we are subjected to a split screen of John McCain jeering at Paul. When the commentator asks Paul if he is “actually electable,” there’s no mistaking his mocking tone and hints of laughter. Then the audience took their turn laughing.

Even if you don’t agree with the guy, at least treat him with some dignity and allow him to voice his stance on the issues — the Republican party as a whole has come to be defined as such an ignorant and vicious mob.

Ok, I’ll put my soapbox away now…

You never know what you’ll run across while browsing the magazines in a doctor’s waiting room…

TIME magazine: Posted Sunday, Sep. 10, 2006

When George Adams lost his job at an Ohio tile factory last October, the most practical thing he did, he thinks, was go to a new church, even though he had to move his wife and four preteen boys to Conroe, a suburb of Houston, to do it. Conroe, you see, is not far from Lakewood, the home church of megapastor and best-selling author Joel Osteen.

Osteen’s relentlessly upbeat television sermons had helped Adams, 49, get through the hard times, and now Adams was expecting the smiling, Texas-twanged 43-year-old to help boost him back toward success. And Osteen did. Inspired by the preacher’s insistence that one of God’s top priorities is to shower blessings on Christians in this lifetime–and by the corollary assumption that one of the worst things a person can do is to expect anything less–Adams marched into Gullo Ford in Conroe looking for work. He didn’t have entry-level aspirations: “God has showed me that he doesn’t want me to be a run-of-the-mill person,” he explains. He demanded to know what the dealership’s top salesmen made–and got the job. Banishing all doubt–”You can’t sell a $40,000-to-$50,000 car with menial thoughts”–Adams took four days to retail his first vehicle, a Ford F-150 Lariat with leather interior. He knew that many fellow salesmen don’t notch their first score until their second week. “Right now, I’m above average!” he exclaims. “It’s a new day God has given me! I’m on my way to a six-figure income!” The sales commission will help with this month’s rent, but Adams hates renting. Once that six-figure income has been rolling in for a while, he will buy his dream house: “Twenty-five acres,” he says. “And three bedrooms. We’re going to have a schoolhouse (his children are home schooled). We want horses and ponies for the boys, so a horse barn. And a pond. And maybe some cattle.”

“I’m dreaming big–because all of heaven is dreaming big,” Adams continues. “Jesus died for our sins. That was the best gift God could give us,” he says. “But we have something else. Because I want to follow Jesus and do what he ordained, God wants to support us. It’s Joel Osteen’s ministry that told me. Why would an awesome and mighty God want anything less for his children?”

In three of the Gospels, Jesus warns that each of his disciples may have to “deny himself” and even “take up his Cross.” In support of this alarming prediction, he forcefully contrasts the fleeting pleasures of today with the promise of eternity: “For what profit is it to a man,” he asks, “if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” It is one of the New Testament’s hardest teachings, yet generations of churchgoers have understood that being Christian, on some level, means being ready to sacrifice–money, autonomy or even their lives.

(more…)

from

December 24, 2006

What’s Wrong With Cinderella?

By Peggy Orenstein

I finally came unhinged in the dentist’s office — one of those ritzy pediatric practices tricked out with comic books, DVDs and arcade games — where I’d taken my 3-year-old daughter for her first exam. Until then, I’d held my tongue. I’d smiled politely every time the supermarket-checkout clerk greeted her with “Hi, Princess”; ignored the waitress at our local breakfast joint who called the funny-face pancakes she ordered her “princess meal”; made no comment when the lady at Longs Drugs said, “I bet I know your favorite color” and handed her a pink balloon rather than letting her choose for herself. Maybe it was the dentist’s Betty Boop inflection that got to me, but when she pointed to the exam chair and said, “Would you like to sit in my special princess throne so I can sparkle your teeth?” I lost it.“Oh, for God’s sake,” I snapped. “Do you have a princess drill, too?”

She stared at me as if I were an evil stepmother.

“Come on!” I continued, my voice rising. “It’s 2006, not 1950. This is Berkeley, Calif. Does every little girl really have to be a princess?”

My daughter, who was reaching for a Cinderella sticker, looked back and forth between us. “Why are you so mad, Mama?” she asked. “What’s wrong with princesses?”

(more…)

Get ready for the US population to hit 300 Million Tuesday…

On one hand, part of the following excerpt from an article in Elle magazine is demonstrative of the ever-growing hypocrisy of modern churches:

Jessica Alba decided to leave her born-again Christian church after religious leaders accused her of being too promiscuous. The Fantastic Four star insists her multi-ethnic appearance stopped her from being accepted in the Latin community she grew up in, so she turned to the church looking for comfort. After four years as a born-again Christian, Alba backed away from religion because “older men would hit on me and my youth pastor said it was because I was wearing provocative clothing, when I wasn’t. It just made me feel like if I was in any way desirable to the opposite sex, that it was my fault, and it made me ashamed of my body and of being a woman.” Alba also vehemently disagreed with the church’s condemnation of premarital sex and homosexuality and was bothered by the lack of strong female role models in the Bible. She tells US Elle magazine, “I thought it was a nice guide, but it certainly wasn’t how I was going to live my life.”

Secondly, it’s also demonstrative of what Gandhi pointed out when he said, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

Despite the pride America likes to take in being known as a nation of rugged individualists, our society has a difficult time dealing with people who fail to fit into the dominant culture’s notion of how they should live their lives. What’s even worse, though, is that the dominant religious culture has the same problem. If it’s perceived that you’re not looking, thinking, acting and worshiping in a certain way, well, then you’re probably a heathen or something. It’s that kind of thinking that has driven hordes of people from the teachings of Jesus, since the modern church and Jesus are seen as one and the same by most people. They see these church people’s bigotry and rejection of them as a rejection by this “Jesus” of them.

Either way, its demonstrative of a critical failure on both parts to understand the teachings and example of Christ.

In Psychology Today, writer Carlin Flora suggests that America’s fascination with celebrity is a symptom of a larger cultural obsession with the three A’s — affluence, attractiveness, and acheivement. Celebrities seem to embody all of those.

Affluence, attractiveness, and acheivement are certainly not inhrently harmful, but fixation on them can divert people from other values such as community, charity, and commitment.

Flora quotes psychologist James Houran, who says that in a secular society the “need for ritualized worship can be displaced onto celebrities.”

“Nonreligious people tend to be more interested in celebrity culture,” Houran says. “For them, celebrity fills some of the same roles the church fills for believers, like the desire to fit into a community of people with shared values.”

Consider that when you are thinking about who is your “American Idol.” Looks aren’t everything and money can’t buy happiness. And we are more than the sum of our achievements and failures.

Sure, you know that. Still, messages from the celebrity-crazed media bombard us.

Educators and psychologists say critical-thinking skills will help us analyze the mixed messages.

But critical-thinking skills are learned. Pictures and stories about Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson are everywhere. Now think about why Paris Hilton and Nichole Richie have a television show.

Because they are celebrities, and they are celebrities because they are on a TV show.

This kind of circular logic makes no sense. But often we don’t see the world through the lense of critical thinking. People sometimes don’t ask why or how a celebrity acheived that lofty status. You don’t have to be famous for doing anything. You can be famous for being famous.