Blog
Check out my posts (206 and counting) about communications, information, motivation, writing, branding, creativity, media, marketing, persuasion, messages, learning, etc.
Don’t Try This Miracle Cure
Would you drink your own urine? The other day I spotted a story about an American anti-vax agitator named Christopher Key, who recently posted a video for his followers on this COVID “cure”: “The antidote that we have seen now, and we have tons and tons of research,...
A Terrible Way to Learn the Greek Alphabet
I love language, but let me join the chorus of those who’ve said this isn’t a fun way to learn the Greek alphabet. Yet another variant of the coronavirus is upon us, this one called Omicron in keeping with the World Health Organization’s naming system. It was May of...
It’s Time to End Missing White Woman Syndrome
When she was a young girl in Arcola, Saskatchewan, Danita Faith BigEagle loved movies, music and watching her two sisters dance. She was the youngest of six children, born on March 6, 1984, and her siblings always looked out for her. The family was part of the Ocean...
Hitting the Vaccine Jackpot
Does this sound like a marketing challenge? Convince a huge share of consumers to buy an item with no tangible value whatsoever. And do it habitually. In return, they receive no product, service or experience. The item literally isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on....
Why Place Names Have No Place in Diseases
A few months ago, Roger Helmer, a former British member of the European Parliament, went on Twitter to complain about the use of the term “U.K. variant”. Stop referring the new coronavirus variant as originating in the U.K., Helmer tweeted. “It was first identified in...
Don’t Forget Your PIN Number at the ATM Machine
Some acronyms are so familiar that we can forget what they stand for. That can be a problem, if you dislike redundancy in communication. Consider two recent news items, each involving hard-to-get cash. One described a California man who received a stimulus payment on...
Grab Some Popcorn and Start Coping
We can’t go to the movies now, but we’re watching (and re-watching) them more than ever. While global box office revenues fell by more than $30 billion in 2020, industry figures show that subscriptions to video streaming services hit 1.1 billion, up 26%. During the...
The Radical Roots of a Hallmark Holiday
Communicating with family isn’t always easy. That’s one reason why there’s a thriving greeting cards industry. In the gooey sentiments business, this is the motherlode. According to the Greeting Card Association, Mother’s Day is the third-largest holiday for the...
Don’t be a Vaccine Snob
During the past year of increased idle time, many people have picked up new skills. Apparently, a common one is pharmacology. I don’t know where they’ve obtained their degrees, but it sure looks like a bunch of folks have become instant experts on efficacy rates,...
On the Trek for Stars
The other day, I hovered over a movie on Netflix and was trying to decide whether to watch it. So I quickly checked its rating on Rotten Tomatoes to see if it was worth my time. Certified fresh or for the trash bin? Sure, I could have given the movie a few minutes and...