Month: May 2008

By Posted on Posted in Copywriting, Other, Shel's Personal Life

Blog: Absurdist Packaging
I’m writing this aboard a Delta Airlines flight from Atlanta to L.A. Literally moments before beginning boarding, they announced that the supposedly included meal wasn’t free in the coach section. Hmmm–why didn’t they tell me this three days ago when I requested a vegetarian meal? Or even when I’d arrived at the gate with plenty of time to go find a restaurant.

I’m generally not a lover of airplane food, and I certainly wouldn’t pay for it. So I rushed out to the concourse and grabbed a bag of overpriced trail mix.

I’m one of those people who actually reads packaging. It’s an old habit; according to my mother, I taught myself to read before I turned four, using cereal boxes and mayonnaise jars. And since I’m a marketing copywriter, it’s actually a work-related distraction.

And I’ve long been amused by some of the idiocy that’s written on America’s packages. This little bag of trail mix is a prime example:
The second ingredient is peanuts and the fourth is cashews (or so they claim–I haven’t found a cashew yet. But just below the ingredients list are three absurd statements (capitalization and spelling are exact transcriptions of the original):

1. “This product ingredients are from: USA, India and/or Africia and/or Vietnam and China.” Why don’t they just come out and say “we don’t’ know where this stuff is from, and we don’t care.” And where the heck is a country called Africia? Well, at least they didn’t put an apostrophe where none belongs. Instead they simply left it out, along with the s that should follow at the end of “product.”
2. “ALLERGEN INFORMATION: It contains undeclared tree nut traces.” What on earth is an undeclared treenut? One you smuggle through customs? I mean, it says right on the label that there are cashews, even though none exist. Seems to be this is a case of declared untree nuts, or falsely declared tree nuts, or something like that.
3. “PRODUCT PRODUCED IN A FACILITY THAT PRODUCES PEANUT PRODUCTS. MAY CONTAIN PEANUTS AND NUTS.” Well, hello there. Peanuts are the second ingredient, remember? And I can see them through the window in the front of the bag. Tree nuts would be nice. I love cashews. I don’t much like *raw* peanuts, however, which is what’s mostly in the bag. Oh well, at least they did roast the soybeans, thank goodness. Soy, however, is not mentioned in the allergen section.

Am I snarkier than usual today? Airplanes will do that to me. Especially when this whole situation came about because they lied when they told me I got a meal.

(Postscript: my little bag of trail mix was so unsatisfying that I ended up breaking down and buying an airline meal. My choice was a hummous platter with decent hoummous, pita brushed with balsamic vinegar, and a whole bunch of raw veggies, most of them of reasonable quality. So I have to eat a least some of my words about airline meals.)

(I wrote this a few days ago on my way to Los Angeles–and then forgot to post it. I’m still there.)

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By Posted on Posted in Peace and War

Journalist/activist Jim Hightower (once upon a time, the Texas Commissioner of Agriculture) estimates that in the Iraq war, in addition to the more than 4037 US troops and 1200 American private-firm employees (Blackwater, Halliburton, etc.) killed, a shocking 1,033,239 Iraqi war deaths have occurred since 2003. One in every five Iraqis had lost at least one householder to the war.

Why aren’t we reading this in the mainstream media? This is Darfur-scale genocide! Bush has trashed Iraq to the point where any Iraqis are actually longing for the days of Saddam the thug. We are killing their country along with our own economy.

Congress needs to keep refusing to fund this barbaric and unprovoked attack–and Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gates, Rice et al ought to face impeachment at home and war crimes charges in an international court, much as happened with Slobodan Milosevic. Enough is enough!

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By Posted on Posted in Abundance and Prosperity, People Helping People, Publishing, Shel's Personal Life

In a few minutes, I’m heading into downtown L.A. for my 12th Book Expo America.

I’m remembering the first time I did the show in L.A. It was only my second BEA, and I struck up a conversation in a booth that led ultimately to the contract for my fifth book, Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World. Other years, I exhibited Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First at a co-lp booth, nd that led to rights sales for Indian and Mexican editions, both of which have been published. I’ve made connections with editors, agents, vendors, and clients, and I find the show can energize me for weeks (even while overwhelming me with the followup) on top of my usual workload.

This week, already, just from the pre-show conferences, I have a possible subrights deal for the newer, more specialized Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers. Not to mention a few new client leads, some good PR contacts, and some great tips that will make me a more effective author and publisher. In other words, the show dovetails nicely with my attitude that the world is a place of abundance, and good things are there for you if you want to tap into them. Every single BEA has brought good things to me, from friendships and hugs to powerful deals.

And then there’s the social part. Every year, I see friends and have a lot of fun. Last night, at the Ben Franklin Award dinners, I was able to introduce several sets of people who should know each other. Some of those connections will lead to business for the people I introduced. I get a lot of satisfaction if I bring that kind of relationship into being.

It was also a privilege to be at the Franklins for the photo-tribute to the amazing Jan Nathan, the group’s long-time executive director who passed away last summer. Jan was among the warmest and most helpful people in the very warm and helpful world of independnet publishing, andshe had a great sense of huor and a smile that could light up a room.

You can read numerous articles I’ve written about most of these BEAs; the majority of articles on that page come out of these events.

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By Posted on Posted in Politics

Who will be Obama’s Veep? The ideal candidate would be nationally known, white, female, from the South or West, progressive without alienating, and lacking the very heavy negative baggage of Hillary Clinton. Someone who’s been against the war from the beginning and is good on environment and economy–and who runs clean, unifying campaigns. I can’t actually think of anyone like that. Bill Richardson comes close, and is Latino to boot. So does Edwards, although he hasn’t fared so well in the past. But both of them have Y chromosomes. Where is the late Ann Richards when you need her? She’d have been perfect: sassy, clever, a friend to everyone, and the Governor of Texas before George W.

There’s the brilliant but relatively unknown Native American activist Winona LaDuke–but she’s also from the northern Midwest, also not white as most Americans define it, and about Obama’s age. Plus she doesn’t have enough of a following and the Dems would crucify Obama for choosing Nader’s former running mate.

Some names being tossed around make me decidedly uncomfortable, like Virginia Senator Jim Webb–and Hillary, whose sleazy, dirty, innuendo-filled, divisive campaign has appalled me.

Where are the great stateswomen of our time? In the 70s, there were plenty of them.

And if you were Obama, who would you choose, and why?

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By Posted on Posted in Politics

In Huffington Post, Robert Creamer claims the long, grueling primary will make a very strong Obama for November: battle-tested, Swift-boater attacks already launched and deflected, campaign organization in every state and their organizers understanding what it takes, and so forth.

He concludes,

In the end, the long primary season has set the stage for what could be a transformational election that sweeps Obama into the presidency, and substantially bolsters Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.

Well, I hope he’s right. But meanwhile, the once-honorable McCain is getting a free ride. Took him bloody long enough to ditch Hagee, I must say. What a shame to see him betray everything he once stood for. I hope Obama busts him by 10 points or better, and carries big coattails for Congress.

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By Posted on Posted in Energy & Sustainability

Safe energy vs. nuclear energy is something I know about. When I was a college student in the mid 1970s, I did a school paper on whether nuclear energy was safe. Though I came in with a more-or-less open mind, I was shocked and horrified by what I found. The more I researched, the worse it got.

Among the hundred or so good reasons NOT to use nukes:

  • Safe storage and disposal of deadly wastes must be maintained for approximately 250,000 years–in our disposable, throwaway society where most items don’t last ten years and almost no human-made objects exist from longer ago than 25,000 or 30,000 years. This is ten times as long!
    Safety of the plants themselves, both during normal operation (radiation releases) and during accidents or terrorist attacks
    Net consumption of energy: counting the entire fuel cycle of mining, milling, transporting, processing, transporting again, use, and waste handling, nukes actually consume more energy than they create–so all those other risks don’t even have a benefit
    Skewed laws such as the Price-Anderson Act, which insulates the nuclear industry from all but a tiny fraction of the potential liability, and massively subsidizes the premiums for even that minuscule level of insurance

    • True energy security involves renewable, nonpolluting, decentralized technologies such as solar wind, small-scale hydro, and geothermal–coupled with innovative engineering that slashes our energy consumption, of the sort Amory Lovins and his Rocky Mountain Institute have been proposing for 30 years. Even here in cloudy, cold New England, I have both solar hot water and solar electric (photovoltaic) systems on the room of my house, which was built in 1743. If we can do it here…

    So when I got a mailing from the respected environmental group Friends of the Earth saying that the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill is fatally flawed because it opens the door to new nukes, I wanted to share that message with you.

    Tell your Congressional representatives.

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    By Posted on Posted in Advertising, Marketing Techniques and Philosophies

    With advertising that you pay for, even more than other types of marketing, you want to be effective. Yet I see so many businesses who clearly don’t have a clue; they spend a fortune putting a non-offer in front of a non-targeted list, and what little interest they do generate is too often squandered when they get to Step 2.

    So it’s nice to see someone doing it right.

    I subscribe to several dozen e-newsletters, including the Organic Consumers Association (OCA). I was reading that one this morning, and came across this ad:

    EDEN FOODS OFFERS OCA CUSTOMERS 15% DISCOUNT

    Eden Foods is one of the few national organic food producers who goes beyond the USDA Organic Standards. Although Eden Foods is USDA certified, their products do not bear the USDA seal, because they say the USDA standard really represents a “minimum standard” that Eden Foods goes far beyond. As a subscriber to Organic Bytes, you can enjoy a discount rate on any Eden Foods products by When you follow the link, you come to this page, where you’re greeted by a headline that proclaims, “Welcome OCA Customers.”

    The copy on the page builds a relationship–and the discount offer is clearly visible at the top right, and the single instruction is easy for anyone to follow. The tone of the landing page is warm and friendly, utterly hype-free, clear and focused on the hot buttons that would speak directly to an OCA reader:

    Eden Foods are Free of:
    • Irradiation
    • Preservatives
    • Chemical Additives
    • Food Colorings
    • Refined Sugars
    • Genetically Engineered Ingredients

    That means our foods are safe, nutritious, and most are kosher and parve. Oh yeah, they taste good too! Family to Family, welcome us to your table as we give new meaning to “comfort” foods.

    So why does this ad work?

  • The market segmentation is an exact match. OCA already reaches people with an interest in natural and organic foods–the exact market that Eden wants to reach
  • Eden’s ad almost seems like part of the newsletter content, hooking in to the reader’s trust of the OCA brand
  • The link is tracked, so Eden and OCA both know how effective it is (presumably, Eden also tracks how many of those visitors actually buy something)
  • As soon as visitors reach the landing page, the headline tells them they’re in the right place
  • The discount offer is repeated, very visibly, and is easy to take advantage of, with no strings or conditions other than excluding full cases and sale items
    The ad and the landing page both use a tone that respects the reader and builds that relationship

    • If you’d like to learn more about effective marketing and advertising, my fifth book, Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World, would be a good place to start. A Finalist for Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year Award, seven of its 39 chapters specifically cover lowering the cost and boosting the effectiveness of advertising; the other chapters focus on strategies that are for the most part much cheaper than paid ads.

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    By Posted on Posted in Peace and War, Politics

    It’s about time! The House voted against war funding (because the Republicans, for their own reasons, sat out the vote)–and the Senate voted to block more media consolidation.

    Now, we’ve got to put enough pressure that these very positive actions are mirrored in the respective other chambers.

    My question: what happens if the Senate votes to continue funding the war while the House aintains its opposition? What happens in conference committee?

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    By Posted on Posted in Business Ethics, Marketing Techniques and Philosophies

    Watch out for these snakes! Some people have no ethics at all.

    I got an email this morning that purported to be from the IRS. The subject was “2008 Economic Stimulus Refund. [Scanned]”

    And it started like this:

    Over 130 million Americans will receive refunds as
    part of The White House program to jumpstart the economy.

    Our records indicate that you are qualified to receive the
    2008 Economic Stimulus Refund.

    The fastest and easiest way to receive your refund is by
    direct deposit to your checking/savings account.

    Please follow the link…

    And ended with *a numeric URL*!

    I don’t bother to report most phishing scams–I get a dozen or so every day) but this one, I forwarded to the IRS. Unfortunatley, it bounced.

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    By Posted on Posted in Business Ethics, Energy & Sustainability, General Commentary, Other, People Helping People, Politics

    Fascinating and far-ranging interview with European philosopher Slavoj Zizek on Democracy Now this morning.

    He covered war, energy, US presidential politics, and much more. But the statement that really got to me was:

    A true act creates the conditions of its own possibility. That is to say, it appears impossible, you do it, and the whole field changes: it’s possible.

    He went on to cite President Nixon’s opening US relations with Maoist China, and postulated that if Obama becomes president, he will seize a similar window with Cuba.

    But this concept has reach far beyond international relations. In sports, the 4-minute mile was an unassailable barrier for decades; once Roger Bannister broke it, many people followed quickly. In science, it was unthinkable in 1955 that a human being would walk on the moon before 1970. In energy and the environment, the work of Amory Lovins and others show new ways of reinventing society as a more earth-friendly place (see my article here). And in business ethics, I like to hope that my Business Ethics Pledge campaign will make a similar difference in the consciousness that ethical business is actually more profitable.

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