Avril Lavigne and Canon Cameras

Currently, Canon Canada is airing commercials promoting 2 of the different digital cameras that the company produces. As part of this campaign the company is using Avril Lavigne as a spokesperson.

The campaign began with a launch in October where fans won a chance to meet Avril. It continues until the end of December with a contest where you can win a camera. The television ads feature Lavinge prominently and air on various channels.

I have to say that I just don't get it. Avril typically appeals to a much younger audience than myself and the cameras that are being featured are $230 and $700 respectively. This is certainly not going to be in the budget for the average teenager. I am curious to see how this campaign will play out and if it will be effective for the company. I just don't see any obvious connection between the spokesperson and the product.

Carbon Offsets?

I recently purchased tickets for my husband and I to travel to B.C. for the holidays. As I was completing my purchase through Air Canada, I was given the option of purchasing carbon offsets.

It seems that since May 2007 that Air Canada has developed a program to help travellers reduce their carbon footprint. The program, called zerofootprint calculates how many carbon tonnes your trip will produce and then calculates how much money you can donate in order to offset this.

While I agree that it is necessary to do something about the environment, I am not sure I agree completely with this method. I want to do my share for the environment but I would like to see the company do more. There is little information about what else the company works on to reduce waste and emissions. It should not be up to me to make Air Canada look good. Especially since the company has been lacking in the good news department for the last several years.

This is a good start but a company with a history of irresponsible management should not be responsible for managing my contribution to the environment.

Surprise! The car is not free!

This morning in the Toronto Sun, I was reading a piece by Michelle Mandel written about a young couple that leased a car.

It seems this young couple found themselved in need of transportation and so they began a sting of bad decisions by leasing a car they could not afford. Instead of purchasing something within their means the couple over extended themselves and signed a lease at nearly 30% interest on a $10,000 car.

After a few months the couple both lost their jobs(no explaination as to why), and stopped making payments on the car.

This is where the article gets interesting.

It seems that both the couple and the columnist are aghast that the company has gone to great lengths in order to track down and repossess the car. This includes contacting the couples references that were listed on their leasing application and then taking the extreme step of contacting the couple via facebook while posing as potential friends.

While I think this last step is rather extreme, it is the attitude of the girl in the article that shocks me. After all of this the lesson she has learned is to not use facebook. Really?! Nothing about living within your means, or returning the vehicle that you are no longer paying for. I have to tell you-if you owed me 10 grand I would probably try to track you down too!

I personally don't feel that the company is entirely in the wrong even though the article is slanted that way. They may have gone to extremes to collect what was owed but this couple clearly had no intention of returning the car they had only made 5 payments on.

Something really happens on "The Hills"

OK, I am a little embarrased to admit this but I actually watched "The Hills" last week. Now I know this is a faux reality show, but it actually had a true life lesson to teach.

If you have an icky boyfriend and you work for an event planning company, it is not a great idea to invite him to your workplace. It is also not a great idea to loudly announce how drunk you are with your boss within earshot. Heidi Montag learned this the hard way and lost her job because of it.

While the show has very little relevance to my life and I cannot see myself living the same lifestyle as the characters on the show, I think that it was an excellent example of what not to do in the workplace. Heidi's coworker was clearly uncomfortable with the idea of adding people to the guest list and drinking at the event, and she was fortunate enough to keep her job.

Who knew? Something with substance was learned from "The Hills".

Avril Wishes She Could Skate Like This

Next month Napanee will showcase some of the best in Canadian women's hockey during the National Women's Under-18 tournament. Teams from across Canada will try to prevent the Ontario Red team from winning their fifth consecutive gold medal in this tournament. Two Trentonians will be competing against each other with Danielle Skirrow playing for the Ontario Red team and Jamie Hatheway playing for Ontario Blue. The girls are normally teammates for the Durham West Lightning in the PWHL. Also playing in the tournament will be Brianne Jenner who was recently named as the captain of Canada's National Women's under 18 team. This tournament will preview some of the next big talents in women's hockey and fans will be treated to highly skilled and fast paced play. Women's hockey is traditionally a more exciting game to watch because of the intelligent style of play, the focus on the game, and the lack of fighting. This is an excellent opportunity to view some of the best hockey our country has to offer and watch what will most likely be some of our future Olympians. All games will take place at the Strathcona Paper Centre in Napanee beginning on November 5th with the Gold medal game happening at 1pm on November 9th.

Beverly Hills Chihuahua

So Disney has made yet another dog movie. Not really surprising. What is surprising, according to an article published this week, is that they will take steps to address the inevitable trend of parents getting the featured animal as a pet for the children who become obsessed with whatever breed of dog is featured. The Beverly Hills Chihuahua movie is already capitalizing on the Hollywood trend of having a little dog you can cart around in your purse(seriously is this necessary?) and dress in itsy bitsy sized doggie clothes, and trying to appeal to the young crowd who buys into this stuff. When Disney made the 101 Dalmatians movie in the 1990's, people everywhere went out and tried to make a dalmatian their new family pet. This eventually ended disastrously when people realized just how high maintenance a dalmatian can be, and they were left at animal shelters in droves. At least Disney has learned from that experience and is including a warning at the end of the movie to encourage viewers to do the necessary research before adopting a new family pet. One can only hope that the type of people who rush out and get pets on a whim are able to stay to the end of the movie and see the warning that is intended for them.

Red Tea is the new green

Just when I thought I knew what was cool they went and changed it. Now I am not one to just jump on whatever new trend hits but I do like to think I know what is going on. Well, according to Tetley Tea's article in the Toronto Sun red tea is the newest and most healthy beverage to drink. Their research indicates that red tea is filled with antioxidants and minerals that are healthy for me but I thought they said the same thing about green tea, and herbal tea before that. Either I am more out of touch than I thought or someone is trying to sell me something that I don't need.

XXX Big Apple

In the Toronto Sun on Friday Sept. 26th, 2008 was an opinion column by Mike Strobel about the Big Apple in Colborne. The focus of the piece was not on the apple itself, or the petting zoo, nor the baked goods available for purchase. No, this was about the items being sold in the gift shop. It seems that someone within the organization decided it would be a good idea to sell X rated t-shirts. The shirts are selling extremely well and an employee indicates that the sales are outnumbering complaints. While this may seem like an excellent business decision now, I think that long term this may hurt the business. The type of people who are bringing their children or parents to this location, likely are more interested in letting their children pet the nearby animals. I’m not sure that selling these t-shirts is a sustainable venture if it alienates or offends the majority of their target audience.

Plays well with others

Loyalist PR seems to be the class that plays together. So far our class is coming together well and we seem to be finding our own voices. Hopefully we will continue to find support and encouragement from our peers and develop a portfolio to be proud of.

I'm old and I don't care

So tired! What a week! Work and school seem to be neverending and it is feeling like there is little time leftover for myself and my spouse. School is turning out better than I thought it would be and I am really happy about that. I am actually happy that I am going to school at this age instead of when I was in my twenties. I may joke about being old and out of touch but I am really quite comfortable being the age that I am. I enjoy my thirties and the respect that I automatically get because I am no longer so dumb kid. I truly am out of touch with young kids and what is cool but I am so OK with that because I don't have time for short lived trends or ridiculous fashions. Thank goodness I don't have to buy into that garbage anymore. Now if I can just figure out this blogging thing!

My First Blog

So...my first blog...where to begin? Well, I've just begun my first year of school in almost 8 years and it isn't quite what I expected it to be. Overall I would say it has been a positive experience, and I am sure there will be plenty to blog about as I go. Here's to new experiences!