Everything About Business Except The Bottom Line: FunnyBusiness

China's Labor Day Celebration: The Golden Week

  While Americans are looking ahead five weeks to our next three day weekend, The Chinese are getting ready for their Labor Day Celebration. Only it's not a day , or even a three -day weekend. It's an entire week-- one of three Golden Weeks celebrated throughout China. Oh, and no one gets paid for their time off.

This is the 20th Golden Week. The idea is not  so much to give people time off from work but rather to get them time off so they will spend money. It seems that while China's economy and middle class are red hot, the mental mindset of the Chinese is more frugal than the economy needs it to be.

From the China Daily,

A government official said that despite the huge flow of people during the Golden Weeks and the problems that causes, the holiday system would remain for at least the next few years, because "there is still a lot of potential to be explored". Wang Kecheng of the National Bureau of Statistics, said: "The system has contributed a lot to boosting domestic consumption and demand, which makes its existence necessary."

He was speaking at a press conference attended by officials from 18 government departments. Official statistics have shown that the past 19 Golden Weeks have contributed 670 billion yuan ($86.7 billion) to the economy. Zhang Xiqin, deputy director of the National Tourism Administration, said: "With per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimated to keep growing, there is a huge potential for tourism development during the Golden Week holidays." He said that developing tourism and expanding domestic consumption and demand was good for the economy and the trade surplus, unlike investment, "which is already overheated".

What are the Chinese spending their money on? According to Helen Wang at Across the Pacific  color tvs computers and diamond engagement rings.

Although China has 1.3 billion people, only 400 million are in urban areas. Coming from a culture that is extremely frugal, the middle class Chinese are both savers and spenders. There are people who are looking for value and a bargain price, and there are others who are seeking a premium branded product.

Some of the most popular products among the middle class are color televisions, mobile phones and personal computers. Interestingly enough, in big cities like Shanghai, diamond engagement rings are big sellers, even though the concept of Western-style engagement prior to marriage does not exist in China.

Want to learn more about the Chinese consumer? The Harvard Business Review in brief offers a great insight into Chinese workers and consumers.

Workers

Consumers

 

RSS MADE EASY VIDEO

Despite its name, "Really Simple Syndication" aka  RSS seems to baffle many folks. My explanation is to think of it as the blog version of creating your own personal online news service.

Instead of being just limited to traditional media outlets, you can check out new stuff that your favorite bloggers have written.

As I was checking out  my Google Reader this morning, I came across this post from Nancy White at Full Circle Online Interaction Blog  featuring a video by Lee and Sachi at CommonCraft --the video is getting rave reviews for explaining  What and How to use RSS.

Click To Play

There are two types of Internet users, those that use RSS and those that don't. This video is for the people who could save time using RSS, but don't know where to start.

Where are all the negotiation coaches?

In the 2002 Overdue Media comic strip the man says to the woman: "I was reading that, even in libraries,men make more than women."

Woman: " Yes, that's true."
Man:"So...when do I get my raise."

While news that women earn less than men is not new news, what does seem to be emerging is a new thinking on the issue -- women can do something about it if we would just learn to negotiate. Jory Des Jardin wrote about this in a February Post called Think negotiating for more money is petty? Hope you like your job."

The pay gap is back in the news today thanks to  research by American Association of University Women that confirms what many women believe--the pay gap is alive and well and thriving in the U.S. The reality of that pay gap has been challenged in recent years by people like Dr. Warren Farrell who wrote a 2005 book Why Men Earn More. According to Publisher's Weekly,

"Why do men earn more than women? Because they deserve to, argues this contrarian challenge to feminist conventional wisdom. Men work longer hours at more dangerous and disagreeable jobs. They more readily accept night shifts, hardship postings to Alaska and entrepreneurial risks. Men get in-demand degrees in engineering, while women get degrees in French literature. Female librarians earn less than garbagemen, not because of discrimination, but because so many applicants compete for the safe, clean, comfortable, convenient, fulfilling jobs women prefer. Indeed, the author insists, statistics show that women and men with equal experience and qualifications, doing the same job, for the same hours, under the same conditions-get paid the same."

Which is why I found it fascinating that the Associated Press article by Ellen Simon in the The      Washington Post stresses even with outside factors, the gap exists.

Even after controlling for hours, occupation, parenthood, and other factors known to affect earnings, the study found that one-quarter of the pay gap remains unexplained. The group said that portion of the gap is "likely due to sex discrimination."

In writing about the report in the Daily Kos, MissLaura has already received 68 comments to her post. Karichisholm was the first to comment.

I'll go and dig in on the study, but there always seems to be one factor that's left out. It seems that men are more aggressive about negotiating salary than women.  I don't know what cultural norms cause that - except that maybe men are more likely to have overinflated egos - but it seems reasonable to me that there might be a 5-15% bump that comes from negotiating a better deal when you get hired.

The good news is that negotiation is a skill that with the proper training and practice can be mastered. So, where are all those negotiation coaches and where can we sign up?

Image Credit: Overdue Media
This is cross-posted at Blogher

Notes From The Road: Caution: The Moving Walkway Is ending

With a six-hour layover in between my Southwest Flight from St. Louis to Chicago,and my Northwest flight from Chicago to Minneapolis, I was anticipating a frustrating afternoon of dead computer batteries, uncomfortable seats and bad muzak. . But a to Chicago's Midway Airport for having those little extra amenities that serve as a great reminder that its the little things that can make a huge difference in any experience.

I love the rocking chairs !  They're comfy. They're relaxing and that make passerbys smile.

They are part of a permanent art exhibit from La Rabida Children's Hospital. A 2004 press release announcing the art exhibit explains that the rocking chairs

"are meant to provide a soothing place for travelers to relax.  Sitting in the rocking chairs, travelers will transported to destinations imagined by La Rabida’s kids -- from the tropical rainforests of Brazil to the magical land of Oz, or even back to Medieval Times. La Rabida patients collaborated with over 30 reputable artists from all over the Chicago land area , organizations including Gallery 37 and the Chicago Children’s Museum and sports teams such as the Chicago Bears and Chicago White Sox.  All children who participated are treated at La Rabida, which specializes in care for chronic conditions and disabilities.  Most of the children are residents of the South Side of Chicago."

The Rocking Chair Airport Trend began 10 years ago in Charlotte,North Carolina. According to USA Today, Philadelphia, San Diego, Boston Logan, Nashville, Newark Liberty and New York's LaGuardia also provide rockers.

Imagine my delight that strategically located right next to my very comfy rocking chair right  was  an electrical outlet.  A couple of months ago I was frantically searching for an electrical outlet in JFK airport. JFK doesn't like to share its juice.

Finally, I found one that I thought was an open area. Evidently a store claimed ownership of the outlet and were not amused that I was using their electricity. After begging that I would only use the outlet for 5 minutes they agreed to allow me to plug in my dead Blackberry.

But Midway doesn't stop there. They have a plug in station - compliments of the City of Chicago and Clear Channel.

I have no idea how much money it costs the airport to share electrical outlets with travelers. I can't imagine that its a high ticket item.

In the event that adding free plug-in stations would be an astronomical fee,it is such a coveted commodity for travelers who are dealing with drained computers,
iPods, cell phones and Blackberry's that few would flinch at being asked to pay a couple of dollars to get a charge.

Of course, it's not  completely a day at the beach rocking away in my rocker on Concourse A. The rocker is located right near the end of the moving walkway. And so every five seconds the automated sound system reminds you :"Caution The Moving Walkway Is Ending."

Auto Dealers See Black Selling Pink in Mexico, Japan and England

Last summer, as part of a major car exhibition, Mitsubishi gave away one "Princess Kitty" automobile.

Around the same time. Volkswagen Mexico announced it would be producing 13 Special Order Pink Barbie VW Beetles. From Gadget 4 Girls:

"The car features decked-up all in pink to emphasize your feminine charm and elegance. Every single detail of new Volkswagen Beetle Barbie is made in pink, including pink accents and inserts reflected onto leather seats, floormats, door trim, and even steering wheel. Even the lug nuts of this "Barbie Doll car" are made in pink. This is a car for those girls who are not afraid to become the talk of the town. As for me, I am not likely to opt for this kind of car, as I'm a sport cars fan. But it's up to you to choose your vehicle and lead the lifestyle you enjoy. The Beetle Barbie will be sold through exclusive VW dealers for a price of $ 24,368."

In Japan, Nissan has launched the Pink Pino - sales are brisk. They anticipated selling 2500 a month.  In the first month over 5000 were sold.The Associated Press report featured on CNN.com says,

...in most countries, experts tend to advise against making autos pink or adding other "cute" features to appeal to female drivers partly because that may smack of sexism and turn off women -- except in Japan. Here, young women are extremely powerful in setting trends, and the culture of cute is so prevalent grown men aren't embarrassed about dangling little mascots from cell phones.

Also, Japanese consumers frequently use personal products to show off who they are, often buying designer-brand products to make a statement, said Kazuo Ikegami, marketing expert and professor at Rissho University. "Product image is far more important for Japanese consumers than American consumers," Ikegami said. "There's a much bigger element of personal identity in Japanese marketing."

Even the advertising for Pino is tailored to women who are about 20 years old. The pamphlet is like a Japanese comic book, depicting the story of three young well-dressed women going shopping together, manicuring their nails to match the star-patterns on Pino seats, using aromatherapy oils in the car. The TV ads also tell a similar story.

Nissan marketing manager Miwa Ishii says one goal for Pino is to court young drivers to the Nissan brand with hopes they'll move on to buy more expensive models in the future.

Re:Invention says the success of the Pink Pino is a reminder that when it comes to marketing to women its not about pink or not pink, it's about five things.

(1) pursuing your best opportunity target market niche (remember: one shoe size does not fit all!)
(2) listening for your target customers' stated (and latent) wants, needs, hopes and dreams and respecting their concerns and issues
(3) catering your company/product key messages to those stated (and latent) wants and needs
(4) sweeping those good folks off their feet with a product and product experience that surprises and delights them -- "taking their minds, hearts, and souls to places they've never been" and giving them "a reason to tell all their friends about you!"
(5) providing a clear call to action.

As one of the comments on the Re:Invention post  observed, in the U.S. pink is considered tacky. Not so in England, home of thePink Lady Taxis  and home to many pink car accessory websites. GB Driver has an entire pink auto accessory section.  From pink seat belt and steering wheel protectors
to Pink Pedals to the pink gear knob  gaiter.

GB Driver isn't the only site selling pink car accessories in the UK. The Pink Toolbox Co sells the Pink Car Kit(winner of the 2006 Gift of The Year.) Unlike GB Driver which limits sales to Great Britain, the Pink Car Kit is available for international sales. It does have a fabulous tool that doesn't seem to have a name

The steel hammer point safely shatters car windows so you can get out when a door is jammed due to impact damage, and the blade slices easily through seatbelts.

In her post,RE:Invention shares a bit of pink trivia,

"What makes PINK so scary? According to the website "Gender Specific Colors," pink was considered a boy's color at the turn of the century. PINK is merely bright unsaturated RED. The color of love. The color of passion. Pink can be pale or proud or shocking. When it comes to marketing to working women, pink marketing could merely imply: "making the extra effort to court your best customers."

You can read more about pink as a boy color on the Gender Specific Color Web site.  Navigation note: a authentication box pops up but when I clicked cancel a couple of times I was able to access the site.

This is cross-posted at Blogher

HOLIDAY INN SPOT FEATURES SUSAN THE BLOGGER

Marcus: "Zack,are you looking at Susan's Blog?"
Zack:   "She was featured in four of the leading business magazines?"
Marcus: "And she is so humble you would never know that to talk to her."
Ted:    "She doesn't sound very humble to me if she's crowing about her accomplishments on the worldwide net web. She's embarrassing herself. She's embarrassing the company and... hello, Susan"

 

Is Susan the first blogger to be featured in a commercial for a major brand?  If she is, Fallon, the agency that created the spot,isn't ready to take credit. The blog creative was pitched to help promote that Holiday Inn has WiFi in public areas. However, in that original creative, the blog belonged to Ted.

Now, unless you are an afficionado of Holiday Inn's Campaign you are probably not on a first name basis with the characters. Ted is the senior guy who is stereotypically obnoxious.

In the pitch,Ted had blog that he didn't want the public to know about. Ted's blog was about personal stuff including his passion for hot air ballooning. It was on location for that shoot(it did include hot air ballooning)that the creative team decided to experiment with the actors.

"We said to them Ted doesn't have the blog, Susan does. It's a business-focused blog that highlights her accomplishments," explained Paula Maki Biondich who is the copywriter on the campaign. " We said, "Okay,go and it came to life."

The punchline: Marcus says to Ted, " It seems like you should report to her."

Susan's blog is part of Holiday Inn's "Look Again" Campaign that is trying to reposition the hotel from a family, leisure roadside brand to a more business-centric one. This is the second year for the campaign that features the life of "business guys" on the road.

This is cross-posted at Blogher
  

NBC, CBS, Politicians and Journalists Were Imus' Enablers

Publicly NBC and CBS are saying they gave Don Imus the boot because they couldn't tolerate his racist and misogynistic remarks.

Hmmm.. if timing is interesting, it was very interesting that NBC fired Imus on a day when advertiser after advertiser jumped ship.

NBC says their only reason for firing Imus was that employees didn't want to work for an organization that condoned such hateful remarks.

Well, anyone who watched Imus' show on a regular basis --and I watched it very regularly-- knows that he was constantly saying things that most people would find  misogynistic, and racist. Surely those employees who were outraged over his remarks  last week had expressed this outrage before.

There were certainly amble opportunities for them to say-- 'why are we as a news organization featuring this kind of humor? 'Chances are they did.  If someone could get their hands on internal emails, would  anyone be surprised if over the past five years  management has received many emails protesting Imus and his brand of humor?

So why did management pay attention now? Despite what they say about listening to their employees the facts say something  different --their advertisers started getting nervous. and pulling those wonderful advertising dollars off their networks.

The track record of this program defies any other explanation. Management may have been uncomfortable but they were uncomfortable all the way to the bank. They knew about his style of humor and they either liked it or simply turned a blind eye because he was a money making machine.

Had the advertisers not launched a mutiny the networks  probably would have listened to the  outraged employees and made a commitment that  Imus would be watched and no future  racist remarks would be tolerated. But, he would have come back from his suspension.

And what about the advertisers? They had to know about the so-called humor on Imus' show. They suddenly were experiencing outrageous indignation? As John Stossel would say, " Give Me A Break."

The advertisers ignored Imus' track record because he delivered. More than a few journalists are  now sheepishly having to give a public mea culpe that they enabled the behavior by coming on his program and not staying away in protest of the humor.

The roster of guests is a who who in politicians and journalists: Presidential hopeful John McCain, Senator Joe Leiberman, Former Congressman Harold Ford. Journalist Tim Russett. David Gregory. Andrea Mitchell.  The editors and senior executives of  Newsweek ,and  former blogger Ana Marie Cox.

Before CBS fired Imus, Ana Marie Cox - a former blogger who now has a gig  at TIME, wrote:

"Every time I've been on Don Imus' show, he has reminded listeners that he "discovered" me. It's not exactly hyperbole. He first invited me on when I was just a foulmouthed blogger who ran the gossipy political site Wonkette. As I recall, my first on-air conversation with him was about the Bush twins, or, as I called them, "Jenna and Not-Jenna." Last fall I became a regular guest and took up slightly more serious topics (on my last appearance we talked about Senator John McCain's Baghdad trip and Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's lack of social graces), but the subjects hardly mattered. I had been invited inside the circle, and to be perfectly honest, I was thrilled to be there.

As the invites kept coming, I found myself succumbing to the clubhouse mentality that Imus both inspires and cultivates. Sure, I cringed at his and his crew's race-baiting (the Ray Nagin impersonations, the Obama jokes) and at the casual locker-room misogyny (Hillary Clinton's a "bitch," CNN news anchor Paula Zahn is a "wrinkled old prune"), but I told myself that going on the show meant something beyond inflating my precious ego. I wasn't alone. As Frank Rich noted a few years ago, "It's the only show ... that I've been on where you can actually talk in an informed way — not in sound bites." Yeah, what he said!

Right leaning bloggers are not so impressed with Cox's mea culpe. The Right Wing News wrote,

Ana Marie Cox is best known for faux lesbian shots and talking about anal sex. But, now she's gleefully slamming a shiv into the back of someone who helped her career because he said something controversial. Why? So she can pretend that it's some sort of moral stand as opposed to cold calculation about what would be most helpful for her career,

The Riehl World View had this to say,
            Shorter Ana Marie Cox - If I didn't have this Time gig, I'd still be kissing his ass ... and loving it.

What a worthless, unprincipled bitch. I don't even like Imus, but Cox shows all the loyalty you'd expect from a liberal at a flag waving ceremony and I find that distasteful, regardless of the personalities involved.

Ironic isn't it? The blogger denounces Cox and manages to use sexist language in his rant.  How perfect is that? FYI, bitch,like 'ho , is a sexist term.

If NBC is so outraged at sexist remarks, how can it still keep The Apprendice on the air? Certainly Donald Trump's vicious  personal attacks against Rosie O'Donnell crossed a l mysogynstic line?

If  media giants now say racist and sexist language is no longer acceptable, where will we see these policies so we can understand when they are and aren't  being  enforced?

Not Everyone feels Lovey Dovey Towards Unilever

In the past few months, Dove and ipso facto its parent company,Unilever, have enjoyed enormous positive press in the U.S. for their Real Beauty Campaign ,and more recently, (last week) for their Pro-Age Campaign...a kind of real beauty for the over 50 set.

But, as some bloggers are pointing out, Unilever's definition of Real Beauty in Asia is one that many Americans find disturbing and hypocritical.       Introducing  via YouTube,Unilever's Fair and Lovely skin lightener products for women & men.

Feministing.com wrote about these products saying,

               " Sexism, classism and racism, tied up together in a neat little 60-second spot! A similar ad for                   a whitener  made by Pond's -- also a Unilever brand -- drew criticism a few years ago:

"Those ads are incredible," says Malaysian social activist Cynthia Gabriel, referring to the Unilever ads. "Whitening creams are capitalizing on a market that's quite racist and biased toward people who are lighter."

Responded a Unilever rep:

"Our TV commercial was never intended to suggest any correlation between skin color and beauty. We leave that to each individual to interpret according to his or her culture, background and education."

High-end whiteners are also sold by Chanel and Shiseido in the U.S. But they're huge in countries like China, India and Malaysia, where they help perpetuate the idea that whiter skin = more respect = success in life. They also pose health risks.

As Salon points out, the popularity of Fair & Lovely (the best-selling whitening cream in the world) provides fodder for a debate about whether marketing to lower-income populations helps or hurts them.

The controversy over this product line is not a new one. In 2003, Nicole Leistikow wrote inWomen's eNews about these products and the controversy they create in Indian society.

"Fair and Lovely, one of Hindustan Lever's "power brands," is marketed in over 38 countries. Its frequently-aired ads typically show a depressed woman with few prospects gaining a brighter future by attaining a boyfriend or job after becoming markedly fairer (emphasized by several silhouettes of her face lined up dark to light). On its Web site the company calls its product, "the miracle worker," which is "proven to deliver one to three shades of change."

In 2003 there was backlash...so much backlash that "Hindustan Lever" pulled their spots and created a foundation for Indian Women.

On March 11, Hindustan Lever, shortly after pulling its ads off the air, launched its "Fair and Lovely Foundation," vowing to "encourage economic empowerment of women across India" by providing resources in education and business. Sangeeta Pendurkar, the company's skincare marketing manager, announced that the company believed millions of women "who, though immensely talented and capable, need a guiding hand to help them take the leap forward." Presumably into a fairer future."

The backlash must have been short-lived. The commercials for Fair and Lovely have returned to the airwaves.You can find a link to the foundation on the Fair and Lovely website which encourages users to share their stories of how lightening their skin changed their lives.

You can read about India's cultural obsession with lighter skin color in a 1998 article in the International Herald  Tribune and in the comment section of Feministing.com. While most Americans were appalled at these products, one Chinese woman said, not so fast:

I am Chinese and I use skin whiteners. (My preference is for the lotions by Kose and Kanebo.) I also drink an herbal tonic called Shou Wu Chih to make my hair darker. I don't see anything wrong with this at all. How is this different from the girl who dyes her hair black and stays indoors to maintain pale skin, or the girl who tans her skin (whether by sitting in the sun or using an artificial bronzer)? I don't do this because of a desire to be white. I just feel that paler skin is more aesthetically pleasing for my personal appearance. To me it's the same thing as someone choosing to wear her hair in a ponytail instead of a bun.

And yes, I will admit that people respond more positively to me now that I am fairer and look more traditionally Asian. Again, I don't see a problem with this. Most people will generally respond more positively to someone they feel is attractive that to someone whom they feel is not. If I can play this to my advantage, then I see no reason not to, especially when I gain the advantage by simply following my own idea of what is beautiful.

                                                             

to Two Knives Incisive who made me aware of the other side of the Unilever story in a comment to my post on Blogher about Dove's Pro-Age Campaign.

New York Times covers Blogging Code Of Contact

When all hell broke out two weeks ago after blogger Kathy Sierra shared she was being cyber-stalked, the conversation escalated and eventually wound up here -- that perhaps it was time for bloggers to adopt a Code of Ethics.

Of course, BlogHer- the network of women bloggers where I serve as a contributing editor has had a Code of Conduct since it started --a little over a year ago.

It  seems big time bloggers Tim O'Reilly, who coined the term Web 2.0 ,and Jimmy Wales, creator of Wikipedia  have joined with the BlogHer and are now advocating for that code of conduct.  Wales is encouraging bloggers to share their thoughts and has created a space for that conversation. You can visit it here at blogging.wikia.com.

Kudos to Blogher's founders Jory Des Jardins, Lisa Stone and Elisa Camahort for having the foresight  and belief system to create the code of conduct in the first place. They deserve the credit they are now receiving for promoting civil conversation. From The New York Times,

“Any community that does not make it clear what they are doing, why they are doing it, and who is welcome to join the conversation is at risk of finding it difficult to help guide the conversation later,” said Lisa Stone, who created the guidelines and the BlogHer network in 2006 with Elisa Camahort and Jory Des Jardins.

A subtext of both sets of rules is that bloggers are responsible for everything that appears on their own pages, including comments left by visitors. They say that bloggers should also have the right to delete such comments if they find them profane or abusive.

That may sound obvious, but many Internet veterans believe that blogs are part of a larger public sphere, and that deleting a visitor’s comment amounts to an assault on their right to free speech. It is too early to gauge support for the proposal, but some online commentators are resisting.

Robert Scoble, a popular technology blogger who stopped blogging for a week in solidarity with Kathy Sierra after her ordeal became public, says the proposed rules “make me feel uncomfortable.” He adds, “As a writer, it makes me feel like I live in Iran.”

Mr. O’Reilly said the guidelines were not about censorship. “That is one of the mistakes a lot of people make — believing that uncensored speech is the most free, when in fact, managed civil dialogue is actually the freer speech,” he said. “Free speech is enhanced by civility.”

Image Credit: Darcy Padilla for The New York Times.

Dove's Pro Age TV Campaign: Banned In Boston, Minneapolis, Savannah, San Francisco....

 U.S.TV censors have banned Dove's TV Spots promoting their new Pro-Age Product line. The reason: the over-50 women appear nude...not full frontal nudity mind you, more like Helen Mirren nude in the movie Calendar Girls. The campaign and the ban have gotten the attention of bloggers and mainstream media. Blogger Mary Brown at Boomer Women Marketing Group writes:

Excuse me…Victoria Secret models can strut and pole dance across our TV screens but Dove’s revolutionary ProAge commercial, a beautiful and sensitive portrayal of bodies of women 50+, is banned in the US?! Interestingly, I’m having a hard time finding out why or who exactly felt these ads were too inappropriate to air. They are being aired in Canada and UK.

This week's TIME unpacks the campaign both from a strategy,consumer reaction,and product effectiveness viewpoint.

In its first global launch ever, Dove hopes to attract the 40 million or so baby-boomer women in the wrinkle-war zone with a provocative twist: instead of demonizing wrinkles with "antiaging" products, Dove celebrates them and calls its new line Pro Age. For the Anglo-Dutch consumer giant Unilever, Dove's $52 billion parent company, the stakes are high: total sales in 2006 grew just 4%. Indeed, since 2004, Unilever's sales growth has been in the single digits, while key competitor Procter & Gamble, which owns rival beauty powerhouse Olay, is growing twice as fast and enjoying healthier profit margins (22% in 2006). Dove needs a hit, but in a global culture obsessed with looking younger, will the older-is-O.K. approach catch on?

Holly Buchanan at Marketing to Women Online  writes about the marketing message Dove is trying to convey that at 50 the goal isn't to look younger, just look your personal best.

I was curious about the products - if they aren't supposed to stop aging, what are they supposed to do? Here's what the product page had to say...     Dove created new pro·age products that reflect the unique needs of women in their later years. Formulated to nourish and condition, pro·age helps revive and renew skin and hair. Revive and renew?  doesn't that sound a lot like the "anti-aging" products?   But here's what they had to say in the FAQ section     it is important to care for rather than disguise your changing physical appearance wow -now THAT's powerful - that got my attention while "revive and renew" sounded so much like the same old marketing hype, it didn't even register on my radar.  But is the above line in any of their advertising?  I don't know - I haven't seen it - but I sure hope so.

How big a deal is it that you can't see the TV Spots. Some suspect the ban may have been part of the strategy.As Tim  Redpath at the Train of Thoughts Blog observes,

It's a shame the ad was lifted but then again, smart companies don't mind creating a bit of controversy (see Marketing two-step) to get their message across, so mission accomplished for Dove.

Who needs TV when you have the internet anyway?

The video is  Also available on Dove's website. where you can join a conversation about the ads, the products and aging.

YouTube has the German language version.

This is cross-posted at Blogher