BP RUN ADS "TO MAKE THIS RIGHT"

BP ran ads in New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and the Washington Post according to AdAge.com. Their tagline, "We will get it done. We will make this right" hardly provides a warm and fuzzy feeling about the worst U.S. environmental disaster in history. Everyone knows oil is still spewing from their pipeline and after over a month they have been unsuccessful at capping what seems like a never ending crude oil flow. Placing the new ad with the 2004 versions I posted last month add to the irony of their meaninglessness.

BP will most likely never recover from this catastrophe, which should have been prevented to begin with. Now it seems obvious that there aren't other oil companies that have a contingency plan for the problem either. If they did, they would come forward as a PR hero to fix the problem. It's quite discouraging that the public was told that oil rigs were safe because nothing had ever happened before. Beyond that, not having a plan for how to deal with a huge environmental blow like this is unconscionable. The best we have is a "unified command established to manage response operations" at Deepwater Horizon Response. Stay up-to-date on the latest news.

Live feeds from various remote vehicles (BP site)

Photos

US Coast Guard Photos

BEYOND OIL: BP's OLD AD CAMPAIGN REVISITED

In light of the catastrophe with British Petroleum's off shore drilling rig, and the terrible environmental issues that have been caused because of it I decided to search for an old campaign that BP ran in 2004. What stuck in my mind the most about those ads is how much BP professed to be so environmentally responsible. The print ad campaign was created by NY ad agency Ogilvy & Mather. It's just too ironic, and certainly worth remembering. I hope beyond darkness that there's light—responsibility too.

Here's the text from the "Beyond Oil" commercial:

Beyond darkness there is light.

Beyond a thorn there is a rose.

Beyond practice there is perfection.

Beyond fear; courage.

Beyond 10 seconds; nine.

Beyond danger; a thrill.

Beyond power; responsibility.

Beyond patience; Fulfillment.

Beyond crisis; a solution.

Disease; a cure.

Beyond pain; joy.

Effort; reward.

Beyond winter; summer.

Beyond darkness there is light.

Beyond petroleum; BP.

For BP, I think it's certainly time for them to think outside the barrel—and hurry it up.

MILLION DOLLAR AD BLITZ TO KILL NET NEUTRALITY ~ SAVE THE INTERNET

On Tuesday morning, an AT&T-funded front group, Americans for Prosperity, announced a $1.4 million advertising blitz to try to convince Americans that the FCC is plotting to "take over the Internet." Last week, the FCC simply proposed to “reclassify” aspects of broadband under Title II of the Telecommunications Act to better advance its goals of bridging the digital divide and safeguarding the free and open Internet. But AFP is spinning this into, laughably and somewhat ironically, a “government takeover.” During yesterday’s press conference, AFP trotted out Grover Norquist, the right-wing hit man perhaps best known for threatening to “drown the government in a bathtub,” to put his stamp on their cause.




Read Full Story

Posted using ShareThis

NONPROFIT CREATES MEDIATED ENVIRONMENT IN NYC STREETS

The March 25th edition of the Chronicle of Philanthropy highlights an effective use of new technologies like SMS mobile marketing and building projections to create a mediated environment. Nonprofit organization, Pathways to Housing in NYC uses video projection as an awareness and fundraising effort to effect change in the homeless population. Although many people just walk past homeless people on the streets of Manhattan, this projection installation forces citizens to see that there is a way they can get involved without directly interacting with homeless people on the street.

Pedestrians are asked to make a small donation via their cell phone that would be added to their mobile phone bill in a similar fashion to what was recently used to provide financial support in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti. When a donation is made by a donor-pedestrian the video projection reacts to show the person who was seen sleeping at the bottom of the building get up and walk through a doorway of an apartment. The projection was set up at nine locations over a three-day period.

MARIN INSTITUTE: 2010 “FREE the BOWL" VIDEO CONTEST

Marin Institute launched its second annual, nationwide anti-alcohol-advertising contest, FREE the BOWL. This year’s theme is “Free the Bowl from Big Al” (a.k.a. Big Alcohol). The contest for youth and young adults ages 10 to 25 seeks original ads 30 to 60 seconds long to counter excessive alcohol advertising. The alcohol industry watchdog launched the contest at www.FreeTheBowl.com and is using YouTube to showcase entries.

1st Place Winners

“Day after day, year after year, youth and young adults are bombarded and harmed by Big Alcohol,” stated Michael Scippa, Marin Institute advocacy director. “This year’s contest asks for help identifying “Big Al’s” many faces, especially those that encourage underage drinking. We’re challenging young filmmakers to show us what Big Al looks like, where they see Big Al, and how Big Al harms them, their friends, and families.”

Research estimates 85,000 American deaths are caused by alcohol consumption annually while economic costs exceed $220 billion. More than 10 million underage youth drink alcohol annually, while 7 million binge drink. As a result, 5,000 youth under age 21 die, while hundreds of thousands more suffer alcohol-fueled sexual assaults and other injuries.

3rd Place Winner- from New Jersey

Between 2001 and 2007, Big Alcohol (global beer, wine, and spirits companies) placed more than 2 million alcohol ads on TV. This year, foreign-based alcohol corporations will spend half a billion dollars advertising during TV sports programs alone. These programs have the largest youth ad viewing audience of any type of programming with alcohol ads. It’s no secret Big Alcohol experiences its largest overall sales increase during the two-week period surrounding the Super Bowl.

“Big Al’s ads create an environment that promotes unhealthy consumption among youth and adults,” said Scippa. “That’s why Marin Institute is excited to host FreeTheBowl.com as a fun channel to protest oppressive alcohol ads.”

Big Alcohol’s Influence Peddling(Federal Figures):

• Anheuser-Busch spent $3.46 million on lobbying expenditures on 13

different lobbying firms in 2008

• MillerCoors and its two parent companies (SABMiller and Molson Coors

Brewing Company) spent a combined $2.5 million on lobbying expenditures in 2008.

• From 2004-2008, Molson Coors, Miller Brewing Company, and Coors

Brewing Company contributed nearly $1.08 million in political donations

Get the facts about the big brewers

Go to Free the Bowl

The Marin Institute is an alcohol industry watchdog.

FILM | THE PERSUADERS

"Advertising wants to become the air we breath. It wants us to not be able to find a way outside of the world it creates for us." ~~Mark Crispin Miller, Media Critic ~~

The producers of the film "Merchants of Cool" developed the film "The Persuaders" which outlines how consumers are now being sold on products through the use of emotionalism, narrow casting and niche marketing. In order to cut through the tremendous media clutter, companies and advertising agencies are scrambling to find ways to get us to purchase things...anything and everything. Very much like Steven Baker's book, Numerati, this film explains the future of selling and advertising and how companies seek to differentiate, not just the brands but the audience. By playing on individuality, companies are inducing Americans to consume while reinforcing their emotional attachment to the brands. This film was made several years ago prior to the current economic crisis but it surely illustrates the direction that political and consumer advertising will be taking in the near future. Concepts discussed in the film range from product placements, creating brands as cultural meaning systems to language decoding and testing—all to sell us on political ideas or material consumption.

Watch the Frontline film online.

Printed Interviews:
Mark Crispin Miller

Naomi Klein on Brands

The future of marketing and advertising

Stay abreast of the issues of commercialism

SCHOLASTIC SELLING KIDS ON TRINKETS, NOT BOOKS

For many of us, Scholastic's book clubs played an important role in our childhood by providing the opportunity to purchase low-cost, high-quality literature in schools. We remember the excitement of thumbing through the monthly flyers to make our selections and the thrill when our orders arrived.

But something has changed. Scholastic's book clubs have become a Trojan horse for marketing toys, trinkets, and electronic media-many of which promote popular brands. A review by Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) of Scholastic's elementary and middle school book clubs found that one-third of the items for sale are either not books or are books packaged with other items such as jewelry and toys.

CCFC reviewed every item in Scholastic's 2008 monthly Lucky (for grades 2-3) and Arrow (grades 4-6) book club flyers. Of the items advertised, 14% were not books, including the M&M's Kart Racing Wii videogame; a remote control car; the American Idol event planner; ("Track this season of American Idol"); the Princess Room Alarm ("A princess needs her privacy!"); a wireless controller for the PS2 gaming system; a make-your-own flip flops kit ("hang out at the pool in style"); and the Monopoly® SpongeBob SquarePants™ Edition computer game. An additional 19% of the items were books that were marketed with additional toys, gadgets, or jewelry. For example, the book Get Rich Quick is sold with a dollar-shaped money clip ("to hold all your new cash!"); the Friends 4 Ever Style Pack consists of a book and two lip gloss rings; and Hannah Montana: Seeing Green comes with a guitar pick bracelet.

The opportunity to sell directly to children in schools is not a right. It's a privilege - and an extremely profitable one at that. Last year, Scholastic's book clubs generated $336.7 million in revenue.

It's bad enough that so many of the books sold by Scholastic are de-facto promotions for media properties like High School Musical and SpongeBob. But there's no justification for marketing an M&M videogame or lip gloss in elementary schools. Teachers should not be enlisted as sales agents for products that have little or no educational value and compete with books for children's attention and families' limited resources. If Scholastic wants to maintain their unique commercial access to young students, they need to do better.

In the past Scholastic listened to the concerns of parents. When 5,000 wrote to them demanding that they stop promoting the highly sexualized Bratz brand in schools, they discontinued their Bratz line. It's time to consider the danger of Scholastic's marketing and promotion practices in schools and voice your concerns.

Visit the CCFC website to let Scholastic know it's time to return to selling books - and only books - through their in-school book clubs.

Embrace Change: Redesign the Oval Office

Have an interest in designing President Obama's Oval Office? Here's your chance. Ikea the Swedish furniture company has created fun drag and drop furniture to place inside an illustrated Oval Office. The site actually allows you to change color and rotate the furniture too. You can even share your email with a secret service man. I'm not sure a canopy bed, piano or bunkbeds make sense in any office, but certainly Ikea's great design and economical DYI prices may not be a bad way to help "Embrace Change."

"We have never had an opportunity to do anything surrounding the message of change from a national standpoint," says Ikea PR manager Marty Marston, "[Obama's] notion of change and his commitment to fiscal responsibility match the Ikea philosophy of practical and affordable home furnishings for all."

Gotta love the little dog and mat. Very creative!

Exploiting Media-George Monbot's Way

For the last few months I've been working on an advocacy video. I thought it was especially ironic that today while reading a guide for using media and research for advocacy: low cost ways to increase success, that I happened to find a case study from George Monbiot. I wasn't familiar with Monbiot's work, but he certainly has produced a succinct and straight-forward activists guide to exploiting the media.  He should know. He started his career in the BBC's Natural History Unit as a radio producer and he's a contributor to the Guardian with a series called Monbiot Meets. Here's the ironic part. Just as I'm reading Debra Efroymson's media and research for advocacy guide with Monbiot's case study, up pops an email with my daily digest from the Real News Network. The subject header: George Monbiot Challenges Chief Executive of Shell. Well of course that made me curious. The activist/journalist/producer is doing exactly what he tells others to do. Get up and act. Although Shell Oil is happy to advertise their commitment to renewable energy they are not terribly transparent about exactly what that commitment is. Monbiot finds Shell exploiting the media for their own selfish interests. Advocates take heed. As Mobiot explains in his activist guide it's all part of  'news management.'  See Monbiot in action.  

Do download Using Media and Research for Advocacy:  Low Cost Ways to Increase Success. It's one of the best and most comprehensive guides on the topic that I've read.

SCREENS: HERE, THERE, AND EVERYWHERE.

There was a very interesting and exciting discussion that was published in the New York Times Sunday Magazine a week ago about the proliferation of screens and how it’s changed advertising forever. Benjamin Palmer, Lars Bastholm and Robert Rasmussen, three advertising guys spoke forthrightly about the state of advertising today. They discussed the fact that advertising has always been persuasive, but now it needs to make a shift into the authentic zone because young people can actually check on the Internet to see if the claims are even close to being true—creating a new marketing “transparency”. That can throw a real big curve ball to advertisers and their creative people. Lars Bastholm, who has worked onXbox, Coke and Motorola campaigns, sets the record straight, “Most media, like television, used to be a kind of flow. You’d sit down, you’d turn it on and you’d watch. The reason advertising is completely broken is that the flow doesn’t exist anymore. There’s no prime time. There’s no such thing as must-see TV. Everyone’s composing their own flow.”

We are still in the age where the advertisers are trying to figure out how to deal with all the content creation and the lack of the Millennial audience’s interest in television, the old-time prime advertising vehicle. Brands need to find a way to have a relationship with their audience. In 2006, BBDO’s GenWorld Teen Study argued, “If your brand wants a relationship with this generation (Millennials) connect them to each other…hype causes apathy, but meaning energizes. To stand out, be a brand that matters.”

Bastholm provides an incredibly astute case study about EA Sports, a brand getting it right and interacting with its audience. “On YouTube, someone posted a clip of himself playing the company’s Tiger Woods golf game. He put it up as a joke, laughing at EA Sports, because he had discovered a glitch in the programming that allowed Tiger to walk right out onto a pond next to the golf course and shoot his ball from there. So the company saw the video, and in response, it uploaded this ad to YouTube that said: “It’s not a glitch. He’s just that good.” The ad showed the real Tiger, in live action, actually walk on water and shoot a ball.” This shows an ingenious ability on the part of an advertiser to take a risk and fly with it. However, according to Benjamin Palmer that’s certainly not the norm at the moment. Advertisers are resistant to changing with the times and the shift in audience, “They assume their business practices will carry on forever.”

Well they simply won’t be able to afford to do that any longer. In February the digital signal will take over from analog and it won’t be too long before the “TV” just becomes a big screen to view all the content available—at home. There will be billions and billions of websites and other media and pop culture, and advertising will need to find its place, but not in its typical “overkill” manner. Then there’s the wide world of the mobile screen, as well. Brands will need to figure out how to make a long term, “authentic” connection between their brands and media consumers. They better get crackin’. In the meantime, it’s fun to watch and be a part of what’s happening.

BOOK | THE NUMERATI

Every day we produce loads of data about ourselves simply by living in the modern world: we click web pages, flip channels, drive through automatic toll booths, shop with credit cards, and make cell phone calls. Now a savvy group of mathematicians and computer scientists are beginning to sift through this data to dissect us and map out our next steps. Their goal? To manipulate our behavior -- what we buy, how we vote -- without our even realizing it.

Journalist Stephen Baker provides us with a fascinating guide to the world we're all entering -- and to the people controlling that world. The Numerati have infiltrated every realm of human affairs, profiling us as workers, shoppers, patients, voters, potential terrorists -- and lovers. The implications are vast. Our privacy evaporates. Our bosses can monitor and measure our every move (then reward or punish us). Politicians can find the swing voters among us, by plunking us all into new political groupings with names like "Hearth Keepers" and "Crossing Guards." It can sound scary. But the Numerati can also work on our behalf, diagnosing an illness before we're aware of the symptoms, or even helping us find our soul mate.

By analyzing the data they gather about us, retailers are learning how to lavish big spenders with special attention and nudge cheapskates toward the door... The same algorithms originally used to combat e-mail spam by predicting its mutations are now being used to predict the mutations of the HIV virus...Researchers at Carnegie Mellon are studying the patterns of office e-mail to spot signs of subversive networks taking shape within a company...

Meet Stephen Baker on October 6, 2008 at the Princeton Barnes & Noble.

PARODY THIS!

Ok, I couldn't pass this one up. My very last post was about an engaging artist exhibit that parodied the media's depiction of the democratic candidates Obama and Clinton. Now that Obama has come out as the candidate for the Democratic party, we have a fresh new media parody with the New Yorker magazine cover. But unfortunately for the smart and witty New Yorker magazine, even the Obama campaign is denouncing the cover as "tasteless" and "offensive" and of course McCain is on the same bandwagon. There's been so much outrage about this cover in the past 2 days and it just seems ridiculous. But then again we have to be sensitive about the US constituency. That's the problem with satire, it's risky and can be high-brow and people just won't get it. Messages have to be "watered down" and even the candidates who do get it, prefer to act like it's an outrage. What happened to clear communication and talking about a subject. Like parody and satire are a solid asset of our democracy. Perhaps the outrage is that we can't seem to criticize or poke fun at anything in the political and corporate arenas anymore. Funny thing is that The New Yorker knows what they're doing. They had to know this would cause a fuss. They've been known to work with companies to take over many advertising pages and integrate them into the look, feel and image of the magazine. I think there's more than meets THE EYE here.

TEACHERS LEARNING THE VALUE OF MEDIA LITERACY

Filmmaker George Lucus has been interviewed discussing how we should rethink the way we teach communications skills to young people and that should not only be about grammar and punctuation, but other associated skills like interpreting art, color, and perspective. Lucus, who is also the publisher of Edutopia Magazine says, “Art and music are usually thought of as therapeutic or fun, but not approached as a very valid form of communication.”

An eight minute video by the George Lucus Foundation includes a segment on the Greater Brunswick Charter School in New Brunswick, NJ where a teacher works with the class to analyze an advertisement. Voices of Hope Productions also interviewed numerous teachers, staff and kids at this school for the New Jersey Community Capital (NJCC) short film, Invest in Change because NJCC helped to finance the school. The Jacob Burns Center in Pleasantville, New York is also highlighted for their work with 8000 children who can access communications classes. 4th graders are shown learning how to produce animated shorts.

Students and teachers throughout the country are not only making media, but are dissecting newspapers and advertising and critically analyzing the messages held within. This video illustrates that writing along with critical thinking skills and media analysis instructs young people on how to become well-rounded individuals. Hopefully in the future we will see this more consistently as the traditional classroom experience. One where the student will not only learn grammar and writing, but will also be exposed to graphics, cinema, illustration, animation and music--taught in a basic class called communications. As Lucus explains, communications should be taught as a language all its own and not as an “arty thing, but a practical tool to be used to sell, to influence people, get your point across and to communicate with other people, especially at an age where kids are using more and more multi-media.”

Read the Edutopia article

Watch the Voices of Hope Productions’ video "Analyze this: Message in the Media"

THE CASE FOR MAKE BELIEVE

Dr. Susan Linn, the co- founder and Director of the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood has recently released The Case for Make Believe: Saving Play in a Commercialized World.

In The Case for Make Believe, Linn demonstrates that, while creative play is crucial to human development, nurturing make believe in modern day America is not only countercultural - it's a threat to corporate profits.

At the heart of the book are gripping stories of children at home, at school, and in a therapist's office using make-believe to grapple with real-life issues from entering kindergarten to the death of a sibling. In an age when toys promote TV shows, dress-up means Disney costumes, and parents believe Baby Einstein is educational, Linn lays out the inextricable links between play, creativity, and health, showing us how and why we need to protect our children from corporations that aim to limit their imaginations.

Listen to Dr. Susan Linn on the Leonard Lopate Show.

Get a signed copy with your $75 donation to the organization.
Or just buy the book.

VOGUE COVER: LeBron and Gisele

You know I caught the discussion about this on the Today Show and was very intrigued. First I couldn’t believe that the mass media picked up on the story, although they did so because bloggers got so heavily into it. Ann Curry was excellent as she asked Nancy Giles (from CBS morning show who I really like) what do African American people see in this picture that white people don’t see? Nancy Giles said that blacks are always depicted in the media as aggressive, threatening and as primal beings. Advertising guru Danny Deutsch saw nothing wrong with the cover at all.

Actually they showed other Annie Lebowitz shots for the cover and I too think that they should have used one where LeBron and Gisele were both in movement, it was a great shot, but maybe the editors at Vogue thought it was too Sports Illustrated. I think this does help to perpetuate the stereotypes that Giles referred to and may purposefully be provocative. I’m sure LeBron got paid well for the shoot, plus that type of promotion boosts other career opportunities for him. So it’s easy to see why he would be positive about the cover shot. I personally think they made Gisele look like a weak figure, even a bit odd—twisted and her footing doesn’t appear well balanced. It looks like the only reason she’s standing upright is because LeBron is holding her up, yet that point of view wasn’t discussed on the Today Show.

Perhaps Vogue wanted some extra promotion for the magazine cover? 

Here's the full story

THE LIVING CANDIDATE

The Museum of the Moving Image has a great archive of Presidential campaign commercials going back to 1952. Last year I watched some of the commercials in a comfy screening booth at the Museum and it was great fun. But now you can view the Museum's Living Room Candidate website right from your desk. The site allows you to search commercials by candidate, year, issue, and types of commercials and also has transcripts and teaching materials as well.

They also have an interesting statistic on their site: "The Internet is used regularly by almost two thirds of American adults, surpassing the level of penetration achieved by television in 1960, when that medium first played a vital role in the outcome of a presidential election. The Internet is no longer a novelty, but is rather a necessary campaign tool. Airing just 739 times in a total of three states, the controversial "Swift Boat" ad gained much of its considerable traction from the Internet and 24-hour cable news channels."

REAL OR NOT~ FIXATION WITH CELEBRITY IMAGES

British Photographer and Filmmaker Alison Jackson asks, "How do we know when we are looking at something, that it's real or not?...We read all our information through imagery. It's an extremely fast way of getting information and it's extremely difficult to tell if it's real, if it's constructed correctly." Her art and new book illustrate this point beautifully. Using look-a-likes, Jackson plays tricks on her audience to make them think critically about the images they see every day as voyeur paparazzi wanna-be's.



Her perspective is enlightening and worth the 17 minute exploration on her art and business to get an inkling on what drives the mass interest in celebrities.

PRODUCT PLACEMENTS IN PROGRAMMING WILL OVERTAKE 30 SEC SPOTS

And they'll be sneaky about it.

It looks like NBC takes the cake for tops in product placements. NBC also owns Bravo, so you will see in the chart below that NBC Universal has 8 out of 10 of the top program product placements in 2007. In a rare combination of corporate sponsorship and all-out advertising, on New Years Day, musician Seal performed live on, “The Music of Seal on Ice,” (NBC) while Gold Medalist skaters performed for the crowd with proceeds going to the nonprofit organization Autism Speaks. On a side note, Bob White, Autism Speaks co-founder, whose grandson is autistic, is Vice Chairman of General Electric and served as CEO of NBC for 20 years.

There were quite a few corporate sponsors, one of which was Musselman’s applesauce. The show was quite effective in interviewing the skaters and their families about their Musselman’s healthy snack choices. The show itself was rather odd, but I love Seal and continued to watch in awe while the advertising and promotion machines were seamlessly integrated both in program content and the “traditional” commercial advertising. According to one blogger who was at the “live” event, Seal actually went backstage for 5 of the songs while the skaters performed to canned Seal music, yet the broadcast showed only the Seal live performance. Keep your eye out for more product placements and less 30 minute spots in the future.

TOP 10 MOST EFFECTIVE PRODUCT PLACEMENTS OF 2007

1.TYSON - Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC)

2.Sue Bee Honey - The Apprentice LA (NBC)

3.Soft Scrub - The Apprentice LA (NBC)

4.KRAFT - Top Chef (Bravo)

5.Propel Fitness Water - Workout (Bravo)

6.Smart Mouth - The Apprentice LA (NBC)

7.NEXXUS - Shear Genious (Bravo)

8.Second Life - The Office (NBC)

9.Visa - What Not to Wear (TLC)

10.Kenmore - Top Chef (Bravo)

Source: Hollywood Reporter

The Bratz Movie. Fishnet Stockings and Feather Boas?

The big-headed, big lipped, wide-eyed and sexy (some call slutty) Bratz dolls, a new generation of dolls developed in 2001 are making their way to the large screen this summer. According to the American Psychological Association (APA) "Bratz dolls come dressed in sexualized clothing such as miniskirts, fishnet stockings, and feather boas ... It is worrisome when dolls designed specifically for 4- to 8-year-olds are associated with an objectified adult sexuality." The APA created a Task force on the Sexualization of Girls.

Bratz dolls offer an extraordinary case study for “Passion for Fashion” doll branding and media in the U.S. They are well represented in Wikipedia with their development and multi-media history—wonder how their entry got there. The team at the toy company has been very sharp at promoting these dolls with 2D animation movies and continuing to come up with new figures including boyfriends for the dolls. Ok, so how’s this all different than Barbie and Ken? It’s really not. Competition is healthy and Bratz is using an entire arsenal of media ventures to promote the brand. No different than any other consumer product.

But let’s get back to the movie. So now Bratz dolls are turning real. The Bratz movie is all about being anything you want to be—not being in a clique. Perhaps that’s oversimplifying. Oh--they also want to win a talent contest. The movie has Angelie Jolie’s father, Jon Voight as the school Principal and American Idol’s Paula Abdul. Of course there’s a soundtrack, including a Black Eyed Peas song, Express Yourself. According to the producer, Avi Arad "There's nothing in the movie you wouldn't want your 5-year-old to see, there are a lot of great life lessons." It all happens August 3rd. According to Chelsea Staub, 18, a Hollywood newcomer, "I think parents will be impressed." Hmm. I wonder.

WHAT'S THE BEST STUFF IN THE WORLD?

Two web developers in Melbourne, Australia are passionate about making stuff. So they created an open ended social-opinion-wiki web so that people can share their opinions on what "they think is the best stuff in the world." It's a cross between social networking, Martha Stewart's "Good Thing" and the Million Dollar Home Page concept that a college student came up with to pay for his tuition. If Best Stuff in the World can really get consumer participation it offers good corporate marketing and advertising possibilities in the future. For now, add your own "Best Stuff," and watch while this site grows.

1673 people think Firefox is the best thing in the world
209 people think finding money in a trouser pocket is the best thing in the world
165 people think a smile is the best thing in the world
92 people think IKEA is the best thing in the world
10 people, plus myself think a kiss is the best thing in the world

What do you think?