Wasserman Holiday Shopping Channel
If you haven't found the perfect gift for someone on your list, the folks at Vancouver's Wasserman + Partners might have just what you need. The ad agency has unveiled a unique line of holiday-themed gifts, including the Santa Beard Mop for cranberry sauce spills; holiday-scented air fresheners in turkey, eggnog or Yule log scents; and seasonal avian-flu masks to halt the spread of germs. Our favourite is the Scotch tape dispenser, which dispenses both Scotch and tape simultaneously. You can wrap gifts while you rap to the Wasserman Holiday Shopping Channel's RemiXmas CD .
Question Period meets Criminal Minds
Gangs are dangerous. They push drugs, they hurt people, they watch Desperate Housewives. What? Don't they? That, in a nutshell, was the debate going on in the Manitoba legislature this week, where opposition critics were skewering the government for airing a new anti-gang commercial warning about the dangers of criminal life during shows that potential thugs are probably not watching. The $250,000 publicly funded campaign also includes posters, transit ads and a website, stayoutofgangs.ca. We're sure the gangsters' moms will think it was money well spent.
Social petworking
Is heavy petting acceptable on a first date? It is if you met on Dogbook. The popular Facebook application, created by Toronto ad executive Geoffrey Roche and his son Alexandre Roche, a Facebook developer, has two million furry fans, and now a smart-phone app. Free to download at iTunes, the app works with a phone's GPS if a dog is lost, allowing the owner to send an "Arf Alert" to all users within a 15-kilometre radius. The app also has a dog-park locator and shows which users are nearby. So if you see someone who makes you drool, you can find out where they go for walkies.
Canada's new national pastime
Speaking of Facebook, a recent study commissioned by the People from Cossette claims that Facebook is poised to become "the next Google," with 79 per cent of all Canadian social-media activity taking place there. So aside from posting videos of our dogs, what are we doing on the site? A lot of us - 59 per cent - are seeking information about products and brands. Nearly one-third of us are leaving our opinions about brands, and two-thirds are reading the opinions of others - more than those who read information from companies themselves. The rest of us are at FarmVille, collecting animals.
Legal posturing
Is Lululemon a poor sport? The yoga-wear retailer landed itself in the downward-facing dog house with VANOC this week because of its new clothing line in support of a "Cool Sporting Event That Takes Place in British Columbia Between 2009 & 2011." Although Lululemon insists its hoodies, tuques and T-shirts have nothing to do with the 2010 Winter Olympics, VANOC was not amused and issued a public scolding. The Olympic organizing committee, which has exclusive Canadian marketing rights to Olympic brands, has achieved a state of Zen and will not pursue legal action.
Dianne Nice