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Miner Franklin Lobos hugs his daughter Carolina after emerging from the capsule as the 27th to be rescued from the San Jose mine in Copiapo, Oct. 13.HO/Reuters

1. Nothing good happens in this world without good PR coming along for the ride, it seems. And so we received a press release last weekend from Layne Christensen Co. only a few hours after that Kansas City-based company had (in its words) "won the race" to dig the hole through which the Chilean miners were pulled to safety four days later. Meanwhile Oakley, the California eyewear company, crowed about the men wearing its sunglasses as they ascended, and UPS boasted of handling some of the operation's challenging deliveries. One PR firm with no ties to the rescue sent us a press release which wondered, "Is it a rescue or a media stunt?" Wow: And we thought we were cynical.

2. But let's not allow some craven PR folks to ruin our mood so quickly. After all, there's music in the air, and it's not just wafting up from Chile! This week we learned that, according to a new eMarketer study, the Canadian advertising market is set for a 3.3-per-cent jump this year, to about $11.6-billion. So, okay, that's not great, considering total ad spending in Canada shrank last year by about 6 per cent. But at least online media are happy. Growth in that space is projected to expand by 16 per cent, to a total of about $2.1-billion: The future's so bright, they gotta' wear Oakley shades.

3. Which brings us back to the Chilean miners, sort of. We heard this week of a promotion we found so terrifying that we had to share it with someone. (Our misery loves your company.) To help spread the word about Buried, the new movie in which Ryan Reynolds plays an American contractor in Iraq who's buried alive, four women at last month's Fantastic Fest in Texas agreed to watch the movie while buried in coffins equipped with video monitors. After enduring (enjoying?) the experience, they got to meet the film star. The promotion didn't do much good: Despite strong reviews, Buried appears to be too out-there for most moviegoers. Alas, it's been buried at the box office.

4. Maybe it should have contained an infomercial? For this week we heard of a direct-response company out of Irvine, Calif., that believes the time is ripe for its infomercials to be placed in untraditional media spaces, from the silver screen to cellphones. "We're marketers," the CEO of body-shaping underwear brand Kymaro explained in a statement. "You just keep your ear to the ground and keeping moving with technology." Right here, I'd like to pledge something in front all of my loved ones and readers: If I ever download an infomercial to watch on my phone, you have my permission to bury me like a Chilean miner. No rescue tunnel required.

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