I’ve spent the past week in bed with Swine Flu, which incited a lot of jokes from others, made me feel like a leper, provoked anger at the CDC for hyping up something lamer than the tonsillitis I had in January, caused me to rethink my life, fueled my quarter-life crisis and finally led to wondering how I could turn a bad event into a blog post. Here is what I have come up with – “Swine Flu – The Best PR Campaign (since the last pandemic).”

Swine Flu has all the makings of a great campaign. Let me unpack that statement for you.

Excessive hype (specialized Web sites, Twitter accounts, Web pages, ect.)
Its own branding. You know you’ve made it big time when you get branded in the rash and publicized form of your own vaccine (read Barbie doll, playing cards, etc.)
Made a competitor (read another industry) angry since it was [...]

Andrew Swenson kindly asked me to guest blog for him about a snarky biz topic. I’m not sure if I mastered snarky on this one, but this is a topic that is near and dear to me. As I mentioned in the background for the guest post he recently wrote about marcom on here, he is a tweeter to be followed and a blogger to be read. Thanks again for the space and opportunity to share about this topic Andrew!

If someone tells you ageism does not exist in the workplace today they are lying…

Transparency isn’t just a buzzword; it’s also an ethical practice in my opinion. When I see companies not being transparent, especially companies whose products and services I use, it makes me very angry.

This morning I tweeted about an AT&T video blogger, Seth, who kindly informed us outraged iPhone users that picture and video messaging was finally on the way (link to story and video). I’ll spare you my thoughts on that delay. So I am getting all giddy about the prospect of finally being able to send picture messages to someone directly and not having to worry if they have access to email to view pictures.

At least I was giddy, until I was informed by my friend Matt Motley that Seth the AT&T blogger guy, as he calls himself, is actually Seth the SVP of Fleishman-Hillard acting as the AT&T blogger guy. And then I got fired [...]

Skirt and top in hand, I waited in the excessively long line at Urban Outfitters. When I finally approached the counter and handed over my goodies I almost snatched them back and left the store at the sight of the latest catalogue cover. Before I go on, I should clarify that I’m in my 20s, female and I sometimes shimmy up to the bar in outfits I would not want my mother to see. I also sometimes read trashy magazines like Cosmo. This information is for you to realize you are not dealing with this.

This is not the first time blatant sex in marketing for non-sex products has upset me. Sexualized advertising dates before this UO catalogue, before the rich, middle school moms got upset with Abercrombie’s sexual ad campaign that ran (and continues to run) back in the 90s, and [...]