Check out our new Half Truth Blog for the latest truth detection!
To our Just Ask a Woman Friends,
Our new book, “What She’s Not Telling You, Why Women Hide the Whole Truth and What Marketers Can Do About It” launched on November 1st and we are having a blast exposing real time cases of Half and Whole Truths in the marketplace. For the next few months, you’ll find us on our Half Truth blog on this site. Click on this link for our latest truth detection and insights.
Categories: In the News, Shopping and Service | No Comments »
Only the Meek Blame the Secretary
As the daughter of an incredibly talented woman who wore the title ‘secretary’ with pride for 30 years, I have to weigh in on this Yahoo! Finance story that Pepsi had to pay a billion dollar plus settlement, blamed on “the goof of a secretary.” Supposedly, a document sent to Pepsi’s law department in Purchase, NY was put aside by a secretary who was busy preparing for a big board meeting and somehow, the paper never reached the proper authorities in time to avoid getting slapped with a default.
I don’t know whether the suit has merit. I don’t know if the woman, who was probably doing the job of the four people until they got laid off, mislaid or lost the letter. But I do know this. When people sue other people, they usually start with threats and yelling. The letter isn’t the first inkling. And I also know that secretaries, now generally called admins, more often than not, save the day rather than sink it. And that ‘secretaries’ have probably avoided millions and billions of dollars of damage over the years for companies who never gave them credit.
I know my mom did. So, my message is, right or wrong, don’t blame the secretary. Put your grown up pants on. Thank her for saving you in advance.
(Now, about those pilots playing on their laptops….whole different story!)
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Kindle vs. Nook
I am admittedly a huge fan of my Kindle. I have been known to make people try it during breaks in meetings just so I can spread its awesomeness around. But I’d be lying if I said that the new Barnes & Noble e-reader (called the Nook) isn’t looking like a whole lot of fun. Maybe B&N was smart to wait while Kindle got the kinks out because their new device is rumored to solve some of the things that annoy me about the Kindle. The internet is awash with rumors that it will have a LendMe feature so you can lend books to someone else with a compatible device. This will totally appease my sister who has been a little miffed that we can’t share books anymore. Plus it has a color screen. Oh how I long for a color screen. One of the odd things I’ve heard though is that the wifi only works in a B&N store. That rumor has to be wrong because that would be so incredibly stupid. The whole point of the e-reader is that you can buy the book and download it wherever you are. So when you get a Nook tell me what you think. Until then feel free to come touch my Kindle!
Categories: Internet / Technology, New Products, Shopping and Service, Travel & Leisure | No Comments »
New Blog for WorkingMother.com
Jen authors a guest blog as a Thought Leader for WorkingMother.com http://bit.ly/1TjqNg, Read it. Tweet. Pass it Along. Comment.
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Facial HALF TRUTHS: Botox Bunnies and Parantheses Lines
Reading The New York Post on my train ride is sacred. While I disagree with their politics, I live for their gossip and lifestyle coverage. Today’s Pulse Section takes the cake. They outed a tell tale sign of Botox and called them Bunny Lines. Picture scrunching up your nose like a rabbit and that is what happens when your forehead is too paralyzed to move when you smile. A plastic surgeon explains that “The muscles on either side of the nose become hyperactive with smiling to overcompensate for the lack of movement in the forehead and around the eyes.” My other favorite half truth facial phenomenon is the Parantheses smile lines that Juvederm promises to solve. We aren’t even allowed to have a genuine smile. I’m all about doing the best with what you’ve got (even if what you got is a great plastic surgeon or dermatologist) but I think it is a little creepy to be face to face with someone who looks airbrushed in person.
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Final Curtain
It’s ironic that last Thursday night I was watching “Glee” on TV, my new favorite addiction about life in a drama/singing club in high school, and the next day I found out that the high school I attended, loved, danced through, ‘starred in’ and in later life, helped fund…is closing. The curtain has come down on part of my life. And it’s a part of my life that shaped me as a woman, a marketer and most importantly, a person. This article in The Philadelphia Inquirer confirmed that I wasn’t alone in my love for my school.
A little background. I always felt like a bit of an outlier, working here in NY, living a life that seemed glamorous and odd to me growing up in Philadelphia. To be honest, (or to tell the Whole Truth as our new book espouses), when I was growing up, I didn’t think about New York at all. To me, Philadelphia was the biggest, most wonderful and successful city in the world. New York was another planet. And to a Catholic girl who grew up in a rowhouse in the Olney neighborhood of north Philly, no school but Cardinal Dougherty was even on the map because we were once the biggest Catholic High School in the world. I kid you not… as many as 6,000 kids at our peak.
I learned most of what I believed about women, about achievement, about making it as a little fish in a big pond at Cardinal Dougherty. It wasn’t a fancy prep school. And it wasn’t a tough city school. It was the last of what would be a local Catholic high school with the uniforms, saddles shoes and legends that come with it– like a scene from a movie, except it was true.
Succeeding with so much competition was tough. Earning the lead in a musical in a school that big meant something. I don’t know about the kids of “Glee”, but for me, growing up among so many others was life-changing. And doing it as a girl in one of the few co-ed Catholic high schools at a time of educational gender segregation was critical to my business success. (We were actually co-institutional which meant we were in the same building as the boys but not allowed to look at them until senior year when all of a sudden we were academically competitive.) Though today I would advocate for all-female secondary schools to develop women’s strengths and individuality, in the late 60s and early 70s, we needed to survive the tempest of being thrown in with men to give us a shot at dealing what was coming next…the feminist revolution.
I was forged in a male/female educational environment, so much so that I doubled down at college, enrolling in schools that had also, shockingly, broken 100 year plus tradition and gone co-ed moments before. Striking my own path as a young woman and then shaping my voice in theater, energized me. And I took that naïve confidence straight to the office and never assumed that I was meant to wait in the wings.
I owe my voice to Cardinal Dougherty High School. Though the closing seems to be a done deal, there are kids there now who need my help. I won’t let them down because this school gave me more than a stage. The school gave me nerve and courage and street smarts and roots. I am sad—and yes, disappointed and even angry that our support wasn’t enough and that the economy and demographics did us in. But more than that, I am grateful to the teachers and staff, especially the sisters, who took a bunch of neighborhood Philly kids and made us believe we were more. For that, I won’t linger on the closing night of my school…but only the opening night of what was and what’s next.
Categories: Generations, In the News | 1 Comment »
Bugaboo Strollers Go (RED)
While I’m thrilled with my orange Baby Jogger City Mini stroller (the new stroller of choice it seems in Park Slope), I love the partnership between Bugaboo, the 10 year old Dutch mobility company whose strollers changed the industry, and The Global Fund to help eliminate AIDS in Africa. Starting October 1, 2009, Bugaboo is contributing 1% of all revenue to (RED).
Their new tagline, “Go and good things happen” celebrates the company’s philanthropy while encouraging parents to get out and go! And the special (RED) collection strollers, ADO(RED) and TREASU(RED), are sure to be seen around the neighborhood! Check out their new animated film:
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Diaper Genius
Big changes this week at the Chapman house. I just returned from maternity leave and Hannah has moved on up to size 2 diapers. Before I gave birth no one told me just how diaper obsessed you become in the first few months of motherhood. I thought the biggest worry would be about diaper rash but these little suckers help you keep track of how well your child is thriving…too few diapers and your baby isn’t eating enough…a mom’s worst nightmare!
So my lifesaver was that little wetness indicator on the front of the Pampers Swaddlers Sensitives. Diapers today are so good at wicking away moisture it can be hard to tell when they are actually wet. It’s no surprise that diaper manufacturers figured out they were selling less diapers and needed to give parents and caretakers a reason to change more frequently. So while I know that a blue line doesn’t necessarily mean you need to change it right away (even if they want you to), that wetness indicator gave me the reassurance that I was doing a good job as Hannah’s mom and that was worth paying extra for!
Now with Hannah at almost 15 lbs, I’m no longer as obsessed with the wetness indicator and dare I say it, willing to extend the life of each diaper. As we move to the next size I am reminded how many of my mom friends swore by Pampers Sensitives for the early months (although they never said why) but suggested going to whatever brand is on sale in the later months. How brand loyal are Moms once the insecurity of early motherhood has worn off? For now we’re sticking with Pampers but I have to say the Huggies at Costco are quietly calling my name.
Categories: Health, Moms & Families, New Products, Shopping and Service | No Comments »
HALF TRUTHS IN ACTION AT FAST FOOD COUNTERS
Not to steal any thunder from our upcoming book release “What She’s Not Telling You” on November , but I had to point out this glaring example of consumers only telling marketers half of the story. Basically a bunch of really smart (and definitely suspicious) medical researchers decided to see if the calorie count listings in fast food restaurants were making any impact on people’s choices at the counter. When they asked people 9 out of 10 said they had made healthier choices as a result of seeing the whopping calories next to the food they usually would order. Really? Really, really?
“But when the researchers checked receipts afterward, they found that people had, in fact, ordered slightly more calories than the typical customer had before the labeling law went into effect, in July 2008.”
Did you catch that? People said they did one thing but really did another! Shocking, right?
I love this research because it really points out the half truths we tell ourselves to protect our egos and images. We want to eat healthy on some level but supersizing it seems like such a better choice. Or maybe I will just get a McDonald’s salad (and add FRIED chicken to the top). That’s healthy, right?
Categories: Health, Moms & Families, Shopping and Service | No Comments »
The Angry Team
When I saw anti-Obama people cheering that Chicago (the US, remember?) didn’t get the Olympic nod, I felt that that we’d hit a new low. But this weekend waiting for a perfectly calm and on time Continental flight, I saw that seething and ranting has replaced baseball as the national past-time.
A woman who was carrying 3 large bags plus a plastic bag overflowing with peppers (!) started complaining loudly in advance of the flight. She railed against the attendants who suggested she check one and quickly moved into shouting how rude she was and suggesting she ought to work at McDonald’s. Three other women piled on, saying the attendant was probably trying to get an extra $20 baggage fee. The 4 of them raised the decibel level cackling to an alarming state at 8:30 on a Saturday morning. The pepper lady started walking the waiting area encouraging a crowd revolt. When did we all get so angry? Taking it out on strangers (especially those we expect to safeguard our lives) is becoming a bloodsport. It’s mean-spirited. It’s stupid. And as consumers, we’re making retail and service workers cringe-and retaliate.
Want to be taken care of? Take it a little easier on the people who are taking care of you.
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