Ever wonder if you're doing right by you?

At one time or other, I think we've all wondered whether we're on the right path, in the right career, in the right company...

I attended a week long career path workshop recently where I discovered a lot about myself. And the reason I decided to take part in this workshop?
I'd started wondering if there might be more.

Advertising (art direction, creative direction) has been my one and only career to date and even though I love it, I hadn't chosen it, I'd stumbled into it as an Art File Clerk in a prominent agency. I hadn't known a thing about advertising prior to that but quickly realized that it involved artistry, creativity and a wild & crazy work environment...how could I resist!

But have I been doing the right thing for me all these years?

Well the results of the workshop did confirm that my skill-set was best suited to a career in Communication & Arts which was very reassuring to hear because I already have a tremendous foundation - over 20 years experience - to build upon.

In fact, I'll be taking an intensive 6 month certificate course in Digital publishing & Digital Web to not only solidify my skills on the print side but to get both feet firmly planted in the web side.
I'm really looking forward to it knowing that it's the right thing to do for me!

Ask the question. Save the planet?

So I've just kicked-off an email campaign that I hope will challenge people to ask the question, "What are you doing to help save the planet?"
I've sent it to all of my contacts along with what I'm doing in this regard with the hope that they forward it along to all of their contacts with a note about what they're doing and so on and so on...
What sparked me to do this was a story about new research (Minding the Eco-Gap) in a Contagious magazine newsletter - click on the Ask the question logo to read more. One of the insights "revealed that people ‘nudging’ each other was going to be key to changing consumer behaviour." Makes sense to me. We can't afford to wait for big business or government to solve the problem.
I hope that everyone I've emailed felt the same way and forwarded it to their friends and colleagues. But I suppose that even if one person did, it will have been worth the effort.
In any case, I'll post the result (ie. total number emails forwarded) in a months time.

One Laptop Per Child initiative is so Lennon-esque.

It's no wonder that John Lennon was 'brought back to life' to help sell the One Laptop Per Child concept to the world. Imagine. A world where all children have equal access to knowledge regardless of wealth or lack there of. It's a beautiful thing to imagine such a place.

See the video below.

Protect the Humans

Amnesty International presents a message that cuts straight to the heart especially at this peace & love for all mankind time of the year. Scroll down to see the video.

And, Pepsi has apologized.

Online anyway.

Pepsi MAX & Suicide – a bad combination in any language.

A series of print ads for Pepsi MAX ran in Germany recently and have caught the attention of many online, including myself.

It is my understanding that the purpose of advertising is to sell something – a thought, a cause, a charity, an event, a product – in other words, to get people to part with their money or their time, which some say is money anyway. These ads have prompted me, as well as a good number of others, to spend time to comment on them. So in that respect, they’re successful.

But let’s step back a moment and look at the current global environment in which these ads are appearing.

World economy in turmoil. Global job loses and threat of a depression, with no foreseeable turnaround for the next 18 months or more. The holiday season and the inevitable spike in depression that accompanies it, fast approaching.

Maybe it’s not the best time to be selling a can of pop by promoting suicide as an alternative to loneliness and isolation.

Just a thought.

Motrin Mom Interplosion

Came across this story in AdAge today about how a relatively small group of mom's "brought down Motrin Mom campaign". I checked it out online - bloggers pages, youtube, and the creative in question - and at first I didn't get what all the fuss was about. However, after a few more viewings of the video 'Wearing Your Baby' it struck me.
In the video, the 'mom' is portrayed as a mindless, insecure fashionista who's chosen to wear her baby not because she's convinced it's the best thing for her baby and herself but, because she will be perceived as an in mom, inspite of the unnecesary (and probably harmful) pain it will inflict on her. And the coup de grace - Motrin is saying by implication, you go girl!
That's my take anyway.
Search 'Motrin' on YouTube for the video in question.