Archive for June, 2011

Empathy.

Friday, June 24th, 2011

Over the last three nights SBS, Australia have aired a TV show called Go Back To Where You Came From.

It has been described by the producers as a social experiment.

Here is a description of the format.

“Go Back To Where You Came from is a world first, three day television event following six ordinary Australians who agree to challenge their preconceived notions about refugees and asylum seekers by embarking on a confronting 25 day journey. Tracing in reverse the journeys that refugees have taken to reach Australia, they travel to some of the most dangerous and desperate corners of the world, with no idea what’s in store for them along the way.”

SBS is Australia’s multicultural TV channel so the audience would have a positive bias towards the subject. However what has been interesting is that over the last three nights the ratings of SBS have skyrocketed, culminating in over 600,000 viewers tuning in last night.

It wasn’t to everyone’s taste, as Channel Ten’s MasterChef Australia had an audience of over 1.5 million.

What is amazing is the interest and sympathy it has created in the subject of asylum seekers.

By placing these six people in the shoes of the refugees they have also opened the eyes of the average viewer to their plight.

So much so that the interest in the program went way beyond our shores and became the most tweeted subject in the world for several hours last night.

Empathy is a very powerful communications tool.

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Water, Water Everywhere or water wars?

Monday, June 20th, 2011

Hayden’s latest app, Water, Water Everywhere, has just been made the Guardian Newspaper’s Consumer App of The Week.

That’s great news for the cause and for Hayden, as the app was praised for its ease of use.

It’s worth going to the comments section that’s down below the main article.

There are the usual trite comments on the pros and cons of using tap water but there is one interesting little battle that is being fought.

Apparently there is a ‘rival’ to Water, Water Everywhere called tapwater.org.

Now they may have very good ideals but they are, after all, ultimately trying to flog a drinking bottle.

It’s worth continuing down the comments because in an act of accord, Ben Kay, the creator of Water, Water Everywhere, has suggested they collaborate and share their locations.

Here is where a noble act could be perverted by a commercial imperative.

This remains to be seen.

What is more important than any of this, is the fact that many of us are still drinking bottled water, when we don’t have to, and that bottled water is costing us money and damaging the environment.

Surely the battle should be about reducing the consumption of bottled water and not about who’s got the best app or the most locations.

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Water, Water Everywhere.

Thursday, June 16th, 2011

Hayden has just developed another iPhone App.

This one is for ‘Water, Water Everywhere’ and is designed to show where people can get fresh, non-bottled, drinking water.

Here is part of the blurb that’s on the app.

“Bottled water is a huge unnecessary expense and creates massive environmental damage all over the world.

So why not use tap instead?

The Water Water Everywhere app shows you thousands of locations around the UK where you can ask for free tap water.”

It’s a great app that allows you to add places where you can find free, fresh, water.

At the moment all the sites are in the UK, which is useless for people who don’t live there.

So why not download it and add your own fresh water sites as you find them?

Here in Australia we have some of the best drinking tap water in the world yet so many of us buy bottled water.

It is now up on the Apple Apps Store.

This app is also an excellent example of collaboration as the idea came from Ben Kay in London. The graphics came from Crystal Lee, I guess she’s in the UK as well, and the development came from Hayden in Barcelona, then it was tested here in Australia.

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Perception and reality.

Monday, June 13th, 2011

Australians have been shocked by the cruelty that’s being inflicted on animals in Indonesian slaughterhouses.

So much so that domestic red meat sales have dropped.

The meat and livestock industry have always been very careful to separate what we throw on the barbie from how it got there.

The supermarket or butcher has always been the middleman, shielding us from reality.

Now the consumer has been confronted with the reality that your prime porterhouse actually comes from a real animal, not a polystyrene tray.

I must confess that I am a blood-sucking carnivore and even I felt a pang of conscience as I tossed my slab of steak onto the flames the other night.

The interesting fact is that it’s only the butchers and markets feeling the financial pain, not supermarkets.

Does this mean that the perception of supermarket meat as being ‘faux’ animal is still the reality for most people?

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Almost famous.

Monday, June 6th, 2011

Last weekend there was a link on the blog spot, ‘If This Is A Blog Then What’s Christmas’, to a site called ‘Awesome People Hanging Out Together’

There are 13 pages with old and new photos, of famous people, who have been seen and photographed together.

In there you’ll find some great shots, like Chuck Norris with Bruce Lee, Colonel Sanders with Alice Cooper and even Woody Allen with Michael Jackson.

This one caught my eye, as it was so out of place in the context of all the other awesome people.

I won’t reveal who these two guys are, however if you are in advertising you might have an idea.

If you don’t know, then go to page 8 and find out for yourself.

They are actors, like a lot of the other awesome people on the site, but they are awesome for a very different reason.

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