It's Moustache Time

Since 2004, the Movember Foundation has organized the global men's health initiative called Movember. The idea was born in Australia, where men grew their "mo's" to raise awareness and funds for men's health, specifically prostate cancer. The great thing about this initiative is that male participants of Movember "become walking, talking billboards for the cause, raising awareness by prompting private and public conversations around the often ignored issue of men's health." It's a fun, interactive, "on your face" (as opposed to "in your face," ha ha) charitable approach.

How do you get involved? Register online at Movember.com, grow a moustache for the month of November, and raise some money along the way. Last year, 255,722 people participated around the world and raised $42 million. All funds raised here in Canada will support Prostate Cancer Canada. Last year there was a 273% increase of registrations here in Canada, so it's clear that this phenomenon is gaining momentum.

Keep in touch with your fellow Mo Bros here in Ottawa by checking out the Movember Ottawa Facebook page.

Bleepin' Rhetoric

PsyBlog reported this week that a bit of "light swearing" can go a long way when making a persuasive speech. Apparently, according to a recent study, throwing in the word "damn" or the phrase "damn it" should make your speech more influential than the same speech would be without the mild obscenity. In addition, this approach should increase your audience's perception of your intensity while not affecting their perception of your credibility: "When you show some feeling, the audience notices, credits you with sincerity and takes your message to heart."

A very interesting speech was made recently here in Ottawa by Mayor Larry O'Brien. In early October, he told the Ottawa Citizen's editorial board that while he can't say he is the worst mayor ever - because he doesn't know all of them and their records, he said - he was "pretty bad" in his first two years. He said, "I probably made every single major political mistake that was possible. I think I even made quite a few mistakes that, quite frankly, were impossible to replicate." And yet, he is running for Mayor again. Apparently, he believes that he would make a good mayor if Ottawa residents renew their faith in him.

Is this a move made out of sheer desperation as he trails Jim Watson in the polls? Or has he employed a rhetorical approach called inoculation (see Roland Barthes' Mythologies), "inoculat[ing] the public with a contingent evil to prevent or cure an essential one... A little 'confessed' evil saves one from admitting a lot of hidden evil." O'Brien essentially admitted that he had done everything wrong, so what more could he be hiding? Perhaps he should have just gone with a little bit of swearing instead.

"The Internet's Logo Snobs" Have Spoken

In business news this week, GAP Inc. introduced a new logo for the clothing company online and, due to vehement criticism from their fans and followers on Facebook and Twitter, quickly returned to their original logo. According to CNN's John D. Sutter, "the internet's logo snobs won this one." Interestingly, Gap had stated that they would "crowdsource" their new brand design, taking alternate suggestions from fans and implementing them if they were appropriate. Apparently, they have retracted this approach as well. A press release from the company states the following explanation: "We've learned a lot in this process. And we are clear that we did not go about this in the right way. We recognize that we missed the opportunity to engage with the online community. This wasn't the right project at the right time for crowd sourcing."

My favourite piece of commentary on this story comes from Margaret Lyons of Entertainment Weekly: "I get it. People hated the new logo. The little blue box just looked like dozens of other logos, we're all sans-serifed out, etc. But where is the Internet outcry about stirrup leggings? Or the lack of pockets on a jacket that should clearly have pockets? When will someone speak up about the terrifying reemergence of clogs?! Get your priorities in order, Internet. Those clogs are easily 900 times worse than that logo."

Tweets Tempt Americans to Travel to Canada?

This summer, the Canadian Tourism Commission attempted to inspire Americans to vacation in the great white north by installing interactive murals in New York City, Chicago, and L.A. The murals displayed "real-time updates from and about Canada" from the Twitterverse. Check out the video below.

It certainly is eye-catching! I wish I could see the installation in person, because I'm worried that it doesn't do Canada justice. The one and only tweet that I found legible in the video reads: "During my stay in Canada, the trees in my yard grew so I couldn't go out by car, but I trimmed them quickly in the rain. FUN! :D" What!?! This is being read by citizens of three of the coolest cities in North America and they're supposed to want to go and buy a plane ticket to Canada after "interacting" with this kind of content?

I'm sure there were some really great photos and tweets about all the great tourism opportunities from Victoria to Ottawa to Halifax and everywhere in between... unfortunately they just aren't showcased in this video. In my personal opinion, I think social media could have been more effective as supplementary to a more traditional approach rather than as the focal point of this campaign. What do you think?