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Kelly lilies

July 27, 2011 | Blogging

Every year about this time (OK, it’s been a few weeks now … I’ve been thinking, “Oh, crap. Did they all die?!?”), I check to see if the orange lilies in the back yard have started to bloom. They’re here. They’re finally here.

They will forever be known as Kelly Lilies to me, in honor of Kelly, who rescued my lost camera and returned it to me.

While I hoped to have tons of photos from a conference on my camera, all I had was the first lily of the season and a couple of shots of Chicago skyscrapers … because I lost my camera within the first hour or so of the conference. Kelly found it. And mailed it to me! So, again, Kelly … thanks. *mwah* These are for you.

Posted by Becky @ 6:00 am | 6 Comments  

She’s right here behind the glass, and you’re gonna like her ’cause she’s got class

November 2, 2009 | Advertising,BlogHer,Ethics,Parenting

“Your Dove purchase helps build self-esteem,” says the Dove ad on BlogHer‘s site.

No, it doesn’t.

“My Dove purchase” helps build Dove’s profits. Period. Dove (or its parent company, multinational corporation Unilever) doesn’t care about little girls. It’s a corporation. It’s incapable of having feelings. Its sole purpose is to earn a profit.

Have you seen Unilever’s Bom Chicka Wah Wahs and V.I.X.E.N.S. (Very Interactive Xtremely Entertaining Naughty Supermodels)?

No matter what else I see from Unilever, I can’t get the Axe women out of my head. Unilever portrays women like that on one hand and professes to care about girls’ self-esteem on the other. It’s hypocritical and impossible to take seriously.

“Cause” marketing works profitable wonders for corporations. For example, Campbell’s Soup turns its cans pink “for breast cancer awareness” in October, doubling its sales. While it earns millions from its pink cans, it sends a mere $250,000 to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Unilever earns millions through its Dove self-esteem “cause” marketing campaign. It sends $500,000 to an IRS-qualified non-profit organization, and it gets to claim that amount and all associated costs as deductible advertising expenses.

Instead of entering a UPC code to get Dove to send $1 to Girl Scouts, Boys & Girls Clubs or Girls Inc., if 500,000 people (Dove’s donation limit is $500,000, total) each sent a $5 check directly to each of the organizations, that would add up to $2.5 million for each, a total of $7.5 million — way more than Unilever/Dove would ever claim as a tax writeoff “donate.”

As much as I try to see good in a “positive message” that tells girls they’re beautiful, I can’t help but consider the source. I can’t erase the Axe women from my brain.

That freshly scrubbed, apple-cheeked beautiful redhead in the “viral” video about the beauty industry?

This one.

In five or 10 years, Unilever wouldn’t even blink. It would offer her money to don spiked heels and lingerie to gyrate her excessively thin body on screen … to sell deodorant.

Tell me I’m wrong.

Related posts
Dove’s “real beauty”
Unilever’s “research”

Posted by Becky @ 6:00 am | 5 Comments  

I love to take a photograph, so, mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away

July 27, 2009 | BlogHer

I went to BlogHer09 in Chicago and lost my camera.

OK. So much more than that happened, but I’ll write about all that later. For now, here’s why I’m lost without my camera. Without it, the only camera I have is on my cell phone. Pictures from my cell phone? Suck.

See?

Here’s Carson Kressley showing everyone in the Expo Hall “how to look good naked.”

Here’s Michele Lepe, Nina of Nina and Star on Sprout’s The Good Night Show. She autographed a photo for the kids, and they hung it on their bedroom door. They think I met a superstar. I think so too. She was very nice.

Here’s Elizabeth of Table for Five. We were at the Shutter Suite and I think PunditMom snapped our picture with my phone. Or was it someone else? Elizabeth, do you remember?

I’m sad. Those are the only images I have from BlogHer09. I also don’t have the images that were on my camera: the first lily that bloomed in our back yard, my carpool buddies, the Chicago skyline and pictures I took of some of the first people I met at BlogHer … until I put it down at either the People’s Party or the Room 704 Party on Thursday night. I had so many straps on my arms (purse, tote, camera bag, swag bags) that I didn’t notice the camera strap wasn’t one of them. So … maybe my camera ended up in someone else’s bag. Do me a favor? Could you check when you’re unpacking at home? It’s a Konica Minolta DiMage and looks something like this.

UPDATE: The most awesome Mocha Momma has my camera!

Someone found it and recognized Kelly from the night I was asking around about my camera. (They had been sitting on the same sofa.) She didn’t know how to find me, but she ran into Kelly, who said she would return the camera to me. Thank you, Kelly! I’d love to figure out who “this woman” is so I can thank her as well.

Posted by Becky @ 10:43 am | 17 Comments  



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