Four (or Five!) Reasons Why

….Everyone Loves Ice Cream

1. It comes in a wide variety of flavors so it can meet the tastes of just about anyone, whether you’re into Bubble Gum (yuck!), Cherries Jubilee, Vanilla or Double-Chocolate Fudge. Baskin Robbins, which has used “31 Flavors” within its logo for decades, has actually offered more than 1,000 different varieties of ice cream since it was started by Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins more than 60 years ago.

2. It’s good for you because ice cream contains milk. Milk comes from cows, and it contains minerals, vitamins and calcium that are good for your body. The consumption of calcium has multiple benefits. It not only helps give you strong bones but it helps keep weight off, protects your heart, improves premenstrual moods, and protects against colon cancer. So, whenever you eat ice cream, you’re actually doing something good for your body.

3. While it’s particularly popular in the summer, you can pretty much eat ice cream any time of the year and any time of the day. For six reasons on why to eat ice cream in the winter, check out Jeremy Curry.

4. It’s the ultimate tool to get children to behave. If they’re having a temper tantrum/public meltdown or you want them to clean their rooms or stop picking on their younger sister, you can always pull out the “If don’t behave, you won’t get to eat ice cream” weapon from your child-raising manual. Ah, nothing like a little bit of food bribery to get the kiddies in line.

More: For a list of the most fattening ice cream flavors, Newsweek has the goods. The winner is Häagen-Dazs Chocolate Peanut Butter, which comes with 360 calories and 24 grams of fat. And for a list of the most popular flavors, check out makeicecream.com.

Technorati Tags: Baskin Robbins, Ice Cream

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…Advertising Is Pandemic

1. Logos and brands are everywhere and on everything. Whether clothing, water bottles, buildings or online, it’s hard to walk down the street and not be inundated with advertising. Advertising’s ubiquity is even extending into video games, where gamers will be peppered with billboards and product promotion as they whiz around racetracks and blow up bunkers. While the level of daily exposure has been subject to debate, it’s safe to say that not a day goes by where someone is not trying to influence your purchasing habits.

2. Product placement is becoming a common, if not pervasive, feature in media. Cinema, having lead the charge, was traditionally the only vehicle to carry broad (and blatant) product promotions. However, this practice has expanded into all media, whether through television, online vehicles or print. When done poorly, you feel like you’ve just watched a long commercial. When done well, like the Reese’s Pieces in E.T., products fit seamlessly into the shot and context of a scene. PQMedia estimates that the value of product placement in the U.S. is around $7 billion, rising to $10 billion by 2010.

3. Naming rights have become big business. Sports stadiums and arenas have been the target for corporate branding for some time, but the practice is now common among cultural entities (e.g. museums, literary awards and performing arts venues). Furthermore, in an era where municipalities are facing budget constraints, naming rights are being considered for public transportation.

4. Even subculture movements, which generally eschew mainstream promotion, have been infiltrated with advertising. Look no further than Marc Ecko’s brilliant tagging of Air Force 1 and the public relations bonanza that followed.

5. Advertising has gone so far as to convince us that we need personal branding. We used to consider our reputation as something to maintain and manage. But it’s no longer about just reputation. It’s about “You” as a the brand - what you wear, how you speak, what people think of you, how you present yourself in social networking outlets, etcetera. Mmm…I think I’ll print up a few t-shirts.

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….Dining Outside is Good

1. There’s something different about dining al fresco as opposed to sitting inside around the kitchen or dining room table. It’s more relaxed, the food tastes better, the wine/beer is colder and the conversation flows easier. Maybe it has to do with the fact it’s more of an informal atmosphere.

2. You can drop food on the ground, and it doesn’t matter because, after all, you’re eating outside. Meanwhile, eating inside requires you to behave, have manners, eat with a knife and fork, and keep all of your food either in your mouth or on your plate.

3. It’s okay to be loud because the noise is free to travel wherever it wants. When you’re indoors, the noise is trapped so the conversation seems to be more restrained. This is particularly pertinent for children who should be allowed to make as much noise as they want…as long as they enjoy what their eating and eat well.

4. When dining outdoors, it’s okay to leave the table to go for a walk or wiggle your toes in the grass. Doing it inside doesn’t go over so well.

5. Meals seems to last longer and are more fun outside. When you’re outside and the weather is nice, there’s no need to rush anywhere because where you’re at is so good.

For some tips on dining al fresco, check out this article from The Epicurean Table.

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…Apple Is To Blame For Everything

1. The emergence of the iPod as the personal music player of choice has turned us into illiterate zombies. Having created the ultimate instrument for portability of audio entertainment (and video?), the ubiquity of the iPod (and its copycats) has transformed public transportation and significantly contributed to the demise of the newspaper industry. And maybe reading in general! The days of commuters occupying their time with print are waning. We’re far too happy listening rather than reading and it’s killing newspaper editors. Except those free ones. Yeah, they’re popular. As long as they’re free.

2. iTunes. Oh, iTunes! You’ve caused way too much anguish for music executives. We all think it was Napster and Allofmp3.com that made them go bald. But really, it’s you, iTunes. You’ve altered the balance of power. Albums? You changed the rules and made it about songs. Power with the labels? With eight gajillion iPods out there, I don’t think so. You’ve created an ecosystem where the customer experience is King, not the labels. People will still buy Britney’s latest hit. Why, who knows? But know they’ll do it 99 cents at a time.

3. Apple TV…plus iTunes. You haven’t quite nailed it yet. But you’ve got people thinking. Could this have the same effect on broadcast video content that iTunes had on music? Crap. That could transform television. And movies. And DVD rentals. And because it hasn’t conquered the space yet, it’s inspiring others to do so. Double crap.

4. You’ve really pooched us with the iPhone. Telecommunication executives are scratching their head over this one. You’ve made them sell it cheap, so they can’t make that much from hardware sales. But they were subsidizing most phones already, so this is good for them, bad for consumers. You’ve also pretty much left data plan charges at the whim of providers. Again, good for providers, bad for consumers. But consumers end up with a sexy phone that can do lots of cool stuff. Not sure where the balance tips in this one, but I think consumers are the losers. But everyone is making lots of money, so that’s ok.

5. Apple makes good products. They work. They look nice. They make us want them. They make us spend our money. Phooey on them.

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….Americans Don’t Like Taking Vacations

1. Americans have a deep-rooted work ethic. Maybe this comes from the fact it’s a country of immigrants who have to scratch and claw their way up the social ladder. It’s the land of opportunity/milk and honey but only IF you’re willing to work for it, or work for an online start-up that gets acquired for a king’s ransom by Google. Given this approach, the standard two weeks of vacation is an outright luxury.

2. It would take away from how much Americans enjoy Thanksgiving. The concept of four days in a row of vacation, during which they get to watch football all afternoon and then eat turkey all night, is pure bliss for Americans. This explains why they are willing to travel like crazy all over the country for what is really an extended long weekend.

3. Holidays are for wimps. When you’re an economic super-power, there’s no time for vacations. Meanwhile, many Europeans get six weeks of vacations, which is why they’re struggling with lower productivity and high unemployment these days. If you’re going to win, you’ve got to work, work, work. As the legendary Bruce Springsteen sang in Darlington County: “He don’t work and he don’t get paid”.

4. There’s plenty of time to travel after you retire. America, after all, is the land of RVs and enormous Winnebagos. After you’ve put in your 45 years of work for The Man, and receive your gold watch, you can drive off into the sunset in your gas-guzzling home on wheels, and see as much of the world as you want.

Technorati Tags: vacation

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