A friend told me about an appalling “service” perpetrated by one of our local big telcos today.

Imagine this: The day’s finally finished. You have just arrived home with the kids in tow. There’s dinner to sort out, the cat to feed, and the family to settle. Suddenly, there is a knock on the door. A strange man wants to be let in. He is from your friendly telephone …

I saw a TV piece on the pet food contamination scandal in the US recently which affected many dogs and cats. It was interesting to note the initial confusion amongst consumers as the contamination affect many different brands across different price points and market positions. This is because like many other mass manufacture-based industries, the pet food sector sources its base products from relatively few manufacturers …

I came across this exemplar of a business that stood out because its services are actually designed for the convenience of customers.

Upgradeable.com.au sells memory upgrades for all sorts of computers - from ancient ones that ought to be replaced, to the latest and greatest.

In a commoditised market saturated with competitors, their website alone stood out because it actually provided useful information specific to different models and …

I came upon these two “No Thinspiration” blog posts recently while doing some research on eating disorders*:
The stunning size 12 model branded ‘too fat’ for TV competition
Marianne Berglund from ‘Make me a super model’ TV show

The comments are quite telling - so many (presumably from their names) female comment posters seem to support and look up to these unwell-looking ultra-thin models, and don’t really …

Some of you would have seen pictures of this property development project off the coast of Dubai.

Stumbling across it again recently, I realised it could well represent the world to come given global warming.

See a large image of what I am talking about.

Note how all the continents have been reduced to small islands. And the North Pole is nowhere to be seen! Is the property developer …

Another great post from Everyday Ethics:

Anheuser Busch, makers of alcoholic beverages like Budweiser, have launched a new product named Spykes.

I thought it was a bit tasteless(!) given the crimes around drink-spiking in bars and pubs. Was it intentional?

Other parallels come to mind:
Splatz - the baby capsule for parents with chic for brains.
Slasha - personal security for busy women.
PowerPurge - the detox solution for the fibre-deprived.

Read the …

This is the obviously PR-powered splurge from the CEO of MGA Entertainment when questioned about the dubious nature of their Bratz dolls:

”Unfortunately, it is the polluted mind of some adults who ’see sex’ in everything. If you ask the kids [and we have] what do they think of Bratz, they will tell you they are beautiful, inspirational and multiethnic,” Larian said.“Bratz dolls show the society and the girls …

The word “lifestyle” really gives me the shits. Apart from the fact that it is yet another meaningless gumpf word endemic in advertising, it belittles Life itself.

Someone said to me last week that when they bought an Apple computer, they were not just buying a computer, but rather buying the Apple “lifestyle”.

All well and good for Apple, but isn’t the idea of buying …

The great pictures on this Creating Passionate Users blog post: Too many companies are like bad marriages reminded me powerfully of my personal experience with Apple years ago (my version of their pics above).

I started my business on a Mac Powerbook G3 in 1998. It was easily twice the price of a comparable Dell. Plus several thousand dollars of software. As a …

Are we really this gullible? Or apathetic?

This image from ChickenCrap is a joke of course (or is it truth in advertising?) It does raise a very good point about the relationship between marketing and consumers.