Wise Ideas

The Less 'Poo Movement

For six days, I gently nagged my son to "please wash your hair, and USE shampoo."  On the seventh day, my husband overheard and announced to my family that "shampooing daily is a media-driven habit and scientifically unnecessary" - thus destroying any chance I might have had to get my son into the shower to turn his now straw-like mangy locks into something resembling hair.

Damn you, NPR.  My husband had just heard Morning Edition's recent report that "when it comes to shampoo, less is more," crediting the "current trend of frequent shampooing" to a 1908 New York Times column "advising women that it was OK to wash their hair every two weeks." 

The report goes on to also blame/credit Proctor & Gamble and all its competitors with driving women to shampoo more often so their hair would look like Christie Brinkley's and Farah Fawcett's.  ""All you have to do is watch her running in slow motion on a beach with her hair flopping gracefully in the wind," Steve Meltzer, a former ad executive, tells NPR - and you'd be shampooing with that brand by nightfall.

My mom, who had long, thick, beautiful hair (that I was not genetically blessed with) - shampooed two, maybe three times a week.  My mother-in-law, also a post-WWII woman, is on the same shampooing schedule.  They unknowingly were following the advice of scientists and dermatologists, who say that washing hair frequently strips it of the natural oils it needs and actually damages it.

Whether recession-driven or ecologically-driven (less water, less plastic, less stuff washed down the drain), there is a movement afoot to shampoo less.  As you can tell by this lengthy discussion on The Consumerist blog, there are people who are firmly in the "there's a reason they call them dirty, filthy hippies" camp, and those who are more open-minded and have seen a positive difference in their hair health after reducing their shampooing habit. 

I'm pretty sure P&G is well aware of this growing trend, and if it's smart it's working on dry shampoos or shampoo bars to counter-act it. 

As for my kids - who are swimmers and therefore shower daily - I'm backing off the daily shampoo nagging....at least until they bring home next lice alert from school. And that's a whole other story.

BILLY MAYS - Recession SuperStar

This recession has a mascot,and his name is BILLY MAYS (a name best shouted and not just spoken).

He's EVERYWHERE these days.  I've written before about how and why the whole "As Seen on TV" industry is thriving in these tough times.  But BILLY MAYS has become bigger than that.  He's not only popping up on a regular basis in prime time --- he's now hawking health insurance.  Yes, it's low-cost health insurance, but insurance none-the-less.

Actually, according to this BusinessWeek article from back in August of last year, "the bearded salesman started pitching iCan Benefit Group's 'health insurance that you can actually afford' in May 2008, pointing to the need for its health plans given that 47 million Americans are uninsured."  But as is the case for a number of old commericals for a number of products -- the BILLY MAYS iCan ad is being dusted off and re-run as the country's re-opens the debate over affordable heath care.

Love him or hate him -- BILLY MAYS has come to represent America's desparate need these days to be frugal and positive at the same time.  Don't be surprised if BILLY MAYS starts showing up on the Colbert Report, or in ads for more mainstream products. 

In fact, something close to that has already happened.  BILLY MAYS is now the star of his own reality show on Discovery called "Pitchman," in which," as  AdAge reports,  BILLY MAYS will "help inventors vying to sell kitschy products on networks such as Discovery. In other words, they'll uncover the next generation of pitchmen like himself."

We may have lost our 401ks', but not our love of pop culture icons. 

Sugar Shock

I'd just polished off a box of Girl Scout cookies (NOT joking) when I read the front page story of the NYTimes this week about how Americans these days are comforting themselves with candy.  Lots of it.

While many industries are struggling, "all is well in Candy Land," as Jamie Hallman, owner of the Sweetdish candy store in the Marina district of San Francisco, tells the Times.   And it's not just the neighborhood candy shops that are selling Tootsie Rolls, Necco wafers and gummy bears like they're going out of style.  Cadbury saw a 30 percent jump in profits last year.  Nestle's grew nearly 11-percent.  And Hershey was up 8.5 percent in the 4th quarter.  

Looks like whatever ground we've gained - and weight we've lost - over the past decade in battling this country's obesity epidemic will be entirely wiped away by the financial crises. 

Because even though the Times quotes a Weight Watchers facilitator as saying her clients are talking a lot more recently about candy consumption, and shares in the company are up following a 4th quarter earnings report that was cheerier than expected --- enrollment and attendance at Weight Watchers is down because it is a discretionary expense that people are cutting out of their budgets.

Are we destined to poor and fat at the same time?  It's almost too depressing to think about.  I need another box of Girl Scout Cookies.....

Nano World?

Is the world really ready for a car that retails for $2,000...because I know I'm not.

The Tata Nano, which was launched "amid camera flashes and the occasional shoving match between photographers" in Mumbai yesterday as reported by The NYTimes, will be sold solely in India until 2011.  That's when the slightly more expensive Nano Europa will hit the European continent.  Can the Nano Americana, probably priced under $5K,  be far behind?

I know that's years off - and by then the "world's cheapest car," made of sheet metal, plastic, and tape - er, I mean, adhesive (read the specs here from Reuters)  - will either be wildly successful or a miserable failure.  But my concern lies not in it's design cheapness (although that's a scary thought and deserves a blog post of its own), but it's price cheapness.

Remember when DVD players cost $800?  Now you can get one for $49.99.  And cell phones used to be wildly expensive.  Now they're dirt cheap and every 8th grader's got one.

And that's the frightening part. Do we really need a car that's so affordable every 16 year old can have one?  Sure, there are loads of parents who would never allow their newly licensed teenager to have a car.  But there are loads of other parents out there whose lives would be made infinitely easier if their kids were able to drive themselves around in their own life-sized version of a Hot Wheels toy.

Imagine it.  A nation of teens driving cars with manual steering, no air bags and plastic and adhesive bumpers - sharing the roads with full-sized SUVs, Fed Ex trucks - heck - even family vans like mine.  But the Nano's US debut-- if it actually happens, is still decade away.  Unfortunately, that coincides with the time my kids will have reached legal driving age.

In this BBC article, Ratan Tata, the manufacturer, calls the Nano a "milestone," a vehicle that will get millions of Indians off their bikes and behind the wheel.  Is that what India really needs?  A nation full of first time drivers buzzing around in plastic shells that run on gas? 

Taking a page from the desperate tobacco companies hocking their cancer sticks to teens and other untapped markets, the Nano sounds more like what oil companies need - as the rest of the world tries to figure out a way to wean themselves OFF gas-powered vehicles. 

Now I ask you again - is the world really ready for the Nano? 

The Giving Tree

I witnessed something extraordinary this weekend...a sliver of shining light in these dim times.  And it is something that charities, schools, small businesses, big corporations, and government would do well to take note of. 

There is still money out there to be spent.  But the difference between now and back then is that before people part with their money, they want proof it will do some greater good....whether that "good" is putting people back to work, repairing a roadway, or insuring teachers and students have the tools they need to teach and learn. 

Our public school auction was held Saturday night.  And despite these tough times - and A LOT of worrying by yours truly - parents spent money.  Lots of it.  In fact, we exceeded our budgeted projections and might even have some money left-over to start a "rainy day" fund to get our PTA through these lean years.

And although these parents bid, bought and got great deals on things they would probably be buying anyway (summer camps, haircuts, gift cards at grocery stores), they REALLY opened up their wallets for heartfelt, personal and meaningful items like Principal for the Day opportunities for their kids, bowling with the popular PE teacher, a museum outing with a First Grade teacher and most especially the quilts made by the kids in each classroom and sewn together during weekend quilting bees by many a mom (and a few dads).

There is money to be spent out there, if people really believe it will do some good, and not just line someone else's expensive pocket.  

Plus, another tip I learned over the weekend.  A lot of wine and a DJ help!

Auction Fever

I'm taking a few days "off" of having any Wise Ideas....as I'm "focused like a laser" (i.e:  mentally fried) on the school auction, which is Saturday.

Please feel free to browse through the archives to read recent posts.  And wish us -- and all public schools scrapping for every last dollar - luck.  We're going to need it.

Newspaper Death Watch

It's sad to sit back and watch the death of the American newspaper.  It's been happening for quite some time, as evidenced by the Newspaper Death Watch blog that was created back in 2007, so it's not a shock.  But the speed in which the industry is dying now is nearly as fast as the broadband Internet lines that are killing it.

Even I - a loyal reader of actual printed newspapers - am now wishing someone would hurry up and put my local paper, the SF Chronicle, out of its misery.  Picking it up off my doorstep this morning, The Chronicle is nothing but a shell of its former self.  The 144-year old paper used to be a vibrant chronicler of not only San Francisco, but the greater Bay Area as well.  Today, its local section barely has four pages of news -- and is combined with the Business Section which you read backwards from the back - which somehow was a cost-cutting measure but looks more like a printing-press mistake.

The death of the newspaper industry, as discussed in detail here on NPR's Talk of the Nation this week, is more than just another business failure.  It's a social and cultural sea-change that will impact our communities in ways expected and unexpected.  As USA Today reports, "Sometime soon, millions of people may find themselves unwittingly involved in a test that could profoundly change their daily routines, local economies and civic lives.  They'll have to figure out how to keep up with City Hall, their neighborhoods and their kids' schools — as well as store openings, new products and sales — without a 170-year-old staple of daily life: a local newspaper."

(We all used to laugh at USA Today - "McNews" as we derisively called it.  Now, it might be one of the few daily newspapers to survive.)

Hundred-year old papers like the Seattle PI and the Rocky Mountain News -- the latest victims -- and hundreds of other city and town dailies throughout this country are not just pages filled with journalism,  They also serve as touchstones for communities, bringing  diverse populations together through non-fictional story-telling.  Now we know what town criers felt like when the printing press made them obsolete.

The journalists who once worked at the dead dailies are migrating online.  Many of them, like those from the Rocky Mountain News, are bound and determined to find the business model that eluded their bosses and publishers, and which they hope will resurrect and redefine print journalism --- which has always been more a calling and skill, than a job.

I wish them luck. 

A Bumper Crop of Green Thumbs

Today's green story, in tribute to St. Patty's Day, is about the resurgence in Victory Gardens throughout the country. 

According to National Gardening Association projections, the number of homes with vegetable gardens is expected to grow 40 percent this year, as reported by USA Today.  Sales at Burpee, the world's largest seed company, are expected to jump as much as 25 percent.  "We haven't seen this kind of spike in 30 years, "Bruce Butterfield, research director at the National Gardening Association tells USA Today.

The term "Victory Garden" is a holdover from World War II, when people in Europe and the US started growing their own food in their backyards due to actual shortages.   As Wikipedia remarks, "In addition to indirectly aiding the war effort these gardens were also considered a civil morale booster" — in that gardeners could feel empowered by their contribution of labor and rewarded by the produce grown. Making victory gardens became a part of daily life on the home front."

At least, until we got fat, happy and lazy again. 

But now, people are going back to basics, even if they know nothing about those basics.  As the Seattle Times reports, a small seed store in Ellensburg, Washington, aptly named Irish Eyes Garden Seeds, says it's getting 100 phone calls a day from people who are starting their own backyard veggie gardens.  "We had one person ask us which way the seed goes in the ground," one of its employees tells The Times.

So on this St. Patrick's Day, here's to the new backyard greening of America. 

Little League to the Restaurant Rescue?

Since eating out was one of the first discretionary expenses to go when the recession hit, it's not news that restaurants are seriously struggling -- if they're even still open.

Even mid-level "casual dining" restaurants like Applebee's, Chili's, and The Olive Garden are facing a new threat.  As AdAge reports, "as consumers increasingly trade down to fast food, several players such as Wendy's and McDonald's are working to cement their status as the value players" by eating away at their higher-end competition with lower prices.  Meantime, some other fast-food places like Burger King and Pizza Hut are  "going the other way entirely, marketing higher-end offerings designed to lure the Cheesecake Factory and T.G.I. Friday's faithful."

But while big league ad agencies and marketing executives pitch these kind of business strategies -- it may be Little Leagues who actual rescue mid-level chains, fast food places and local mom-and-pop restaurants from this recession.

As the Rankin Ledger newspaper in Jackson, Mississippi reported this weekend -- youth sports leagues, especially during local tournaments, can - in one weekend - bring in the kind of traffic restaurants need to hang on another quarter or two.  "Our parking lot was full and there's more than one person in those cars," a local restaurant manager reported during a Little League tournament this weekend.  "I would say it has a huge impact." 

In fact, the impact youth sports leagues has economically is much wider than just the restaurant business.  ""The revenue that's generated off concessions stays in our programs and helps with improvements in our parks," the local Parks & Rec directer says. "We started practice the first week in March, and you know that a parent will say 'while I'm out' or 'let's eat something on the go.'"

Unfortunately, as the Pasadena Star News reports, there has been a drop in membership in youth sports leagues, as parents deem even that kind expense expendable.

But back to the restaurant biz -- there is one behemoth that recognizes the power of Little League and youth sports even during times of recession.  McDonald's tells Reuters that it has no plans to cut back on sponsorships during the down economy - especially those involving youth teams at the local level.

"McDonald's is not backing away because it sees sports, whether on a large scale with the Olympics or at the grass-root level with youth programs, as a way to tap into consumers through something they feel passionate about," McDonald's Corporate VP in charge of Global Marketing tells Reuters.

This may be one time when - instead of grimacing when you bring a group of dirty, hungry kids into a restaurant -- those waiters and waitresses will welcome you in with open arms. 

All Apologies

The Michael Phelps Bong Atonement Tour made a stop at The Today Show this morning, where Matt Lauer, as expected by  The Baltimore Sun, lobbed The Human Dolphin some soft balls.  Lauer asked Phelps if he was smoking pot, Phelps never answered the question directly, Lauer never followed up.  

"It was a bad mistake," Phelps told Lauer -- using more "you knows" per second than Caroline Kennedy. "I mean, we all know what, you know, what you and I are talking about.  It's a stupid mistake.  You know, bad judgment.  And it's something that, you know, I have to, and I want to teach other people not to make that mistake."  

Sound familiar?  It's what we all said to our parents when we were caught in a similar position at his age.

Except this kid has a couple of million dollars riding on his performance and behavior.  And although Phelps told Lauer "it's not about the money," and that he's more upset about disappointing family, friends and fans - he's still being advised to appear on TV's top rated morning show to apologize for something we've long since forgiven OR forgotten about -- if we cared that much in the first place.

Advertising Age is reporting this week that corporations are steering clear of young celebs precisely because they tend to get into trouble and tarnish their image (along with that of the corporation).  But AdAge lumps the Phelps pot smoking incident in with the alleged girlfriend-beating case of hip hopper Chris Brown.  "The rise in botched endorsement deals with the likes of Michael Phelps and Chris Brown has marketers rethinking recruiting young, megawatt stars as brand ambassadors, celeb watchers said today at a gathering of top advertisers," the online edition of the magazine reports.  

Phelps lost his multi-million Kellogg's endorsement -- while Brown, who actually faces felony criminal charges, only seems to have suffered the voluntary "withdrawal" of his nomination from Nickelodeon's upcoming Kids Choice Awards. 

I'm sorry, but the Phelps thing is soooooooo not in the same league as pummeling a woman's face to a pulp.

And while I'm ranting, why is it that the A-Rod-on-steroids revelation and admission -- when he actually admitted cheating at his sport -- has gotten far less fan outrage than Phelps toking up during his off-season with a drug that definitely doesn't enhance anyone's athletic ability.  What's the deal, there?

The best thing to come out of the Phelps incident wasn't a teach-able moment for your kids or yet another Today Show "exclusive," but rather what happened at a San Francisco Food Bank recently.

Inexplicably, two tons of Kellogg's  Frosted Flakes and Corn Flakes with Michael Phelps on the front, were mysteriously donated to the facility --- which, as you can imagine, is in desperate need of donations. Kellogg's wouldn't own up to the donation, as The SFChronicle reports.  But food bank officials say its a logical conclusion that's where the cereal came from, especially since for the past 8 years, cereal has been "a very tough item to get" for human service agencies.

And no one seems to care if Michael Phelps is on the front of the box - or what he got caught doing in his own free time.  As SF Food Bank executive director Paul Ashe says, "the boxes have kind of flown off the shelves." 

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Kellogg's.