Tag: confusing situations

Shout Hallelujah

There’s something inherently happy-making about being told you’re happy. I mean, what’s more cheerifying than the news that your fellow citizens—and you among them—have been given a berth on a list of the world’s lightest souls? And so it is with Canadians, who were prominently included recently in a ranking of the world’s happiest people. This is the 24/7 Wall St. list of the Countries With the Happiest People, a...


The Real Value of Virtual Company When You’re Sick

Candy’s dandy, and liquor’s quicker, but nothing’s as powerful as community when it comes to comforting someone enduring the personal issues surrounding a health crisis.   So says a wide-ranging piece of research coming out of a website established to provide just that to people staring down some crummy bit of news about their health or someone else’s. A full 91% of the more than 4,000 respondents to this...


An Ode to Oprah

And just like that, above the din of a sonic boom heard the free world over, the self-built media icon with the bizarre first name is gone. Oprah, released to the graveyard of cancelled and closed-up television programs, a desolate place where George Costanza knocks elbows with Hawkeye Pierce, aired her final show this week. In strong contrast to the vast celebrity love-ins that characterized the last couple...


In Dog We Trust

What ill cannot find relief in the wet nose of a Labrador? What question cannot be answered by the irrefutable weight of a lap-curled Tabby? What problem cannot be solved with the undulating song of a budgie? Pets have much to offer the flesh-covered companions with whom they share their lives, all of it gloriously intangible. In their company, we can transcend the surly bonds of our earthly existence and somehow...


How to Wear a Halo

It’s a win-win-win. The consumer gets a new toy, its manufacturer gets a sale, an affiliated charity gets a shot to the arm. And those are just the tangibles. Cause-related marketing (CRM) isn’t a new idea. The first notable initiative on this front was likely an American Express campaign from the early 1980s that dedicated a portion of each purchase toward a program to restore the Statue of Liberty. Even earlier,...