Adam Menter’s Blog

…little self-indulgent rant coming up…

I was sickened by an article in this morning’s NYTimes about how Frito Lay is trying to target their products to women: Frito-Lay tries to Enter the Minds (and Lunch Bags) of Women. It is basically about a big new campaign that Frito Lay is launching to get more women to buy their junk food:

Women are snacking more than men, but are not eating as many Frito-Lay snacks…“So if it’s, you’re snacking two times as much, but you’re not snacking with us, why, and what can we do for you?” …men’s growth in salty snacks is far outpacing women’s.

They’re pretty worried about the women they studied feeling guilty (as expressed in a logbook study):

According to their logs, the women felt guilty about quite a lot, whether it was snacking, not seeing their children enough, or not spending enough time with their husbands…”So the question for us was, how do we not trip her guilt?”

And their answer to this is:

Toning down the packaging and showing off healthy ingredients in the snacks…Baked Lay’s will no longer be in a shiny yellow bag, but in a matte beige bag that displays pictures of the ingredients like spices or ranch dressing.

Pretty much NO thought given to the products themselves. When are we going to step up, stop putting up with this crap, and get better than this? Imagine how many millions of dollars were spent on this campaign. Imagine how many (wo?)man hours were wasted on this…and imagine how sad it is that the people who were working on this probably genuinely wanted to be helping people.

The problem is that Frito Lay has millions to spend to pay people to do this less-than-meaningful work. While some of the only people trying to address the root of these womens’ guilt (by encouraging and emboldening them to actually spend time with their children and families, for example) - are working for some non-profit for peanuts.

…and one more thing…

They’re also back-handing women with the good ‘ole “hate your body” routine:

In one of the webisodes, two of the women stand with a swimsuit saleswoman, who is reviewing a chart of what bikini works on women with different body types — a trope familiar to readers of women’s magazine summer issues.

“Where’s the one that takes a middle-aged mom with some unwanted bulges and a chest that’s seen perkier days and makes her look like Cindy Crawford?” a character asks.

(check out http://www.awomansworld.com/ and watch the video on the NYTimes site if you can stomach it)

I thought we were heading in the right direction with campaigns like Dove’s Beauty campaign. I guess not.

…okay, I’m done now…

I just fixed my computer.

As in: I just took the whole freakin’ thing apart, replaced a component, and put it back together again.

The reason I was able to do this is that the guys over at iFixIt.com make this kind of repair accessible for someone like me. I called up the company, told a nice fellow named Gabe what my problem was, got advice on what might be wrong (busted DC-in board), and placed an order for a recycled replacement part. Then - when the part came - I went to their website and followed the step-by-step instructions for replacing the part.

I’ll have to say, it did take a while (Apple wasn’t really designing for disassembly and repair) - but it was straightforward and accessible. Yes, you can do it too…try it if you have a broken computer or iPod.

I love iFixIt’s business for several reasons:

• They’re helping to shift the mentality of consumers towards caring for the products that they love instead of just disposing of them and getting a new one.
• Perhaps more on this in a future blog post: Our consumption model isn’t bad because we love our stuff too much, but because we don’t love it enough.
• They’re re-using perfectly good parts from discarded computers - helping to close the loop on our industrial cycle. And they’ll buy and salvage your old computer.
• They have knowledgeable, accessible people who want to help you.
• They empower and equip me to take matters in my own hands. There is no way that an Apple store or other electronics store would have tried to repair my computer. It wouldn’t have been worth it. It’d have been “time for a new one.” Why?

I watch It’s A Wonderful Life every holiday season. It’s my favorite movie.

So it was with great interest that I read today’s NYTimes article: Wonderful? Sorry, George, It’s a Pitiful, Dreadful Life (NYTimes Arts, 12/19/08). The author is obviously a lover of the film - but also makes the observation that Pottersville would not only be a more fun town than Bedford Falls, but also a more financially sound one. It’s an interesting perspective and he points out a few moments in the film I’ll pay special attention to this year (i.e. Ernie’s blank stare when George enters the cab in Pottersville).

But despite the cheap thrills and economic success of Pottersville - it’s not a place that many of us would want to live. And, to me, if Pottersville is the more economically “sustainable” town of the two - we have some fundamental re-plumbing to do on our economy and our society. (see: current financial crisis)

At its heart this is a movie about the importance of relationships and integrity in living a rewarding and meaningful life. The film is great because it shows that the world is a tough place that can make even the best of us lose our cool. But that we can aspire to a better future by aspiring to be better people.

If you haven’t seen the movie - watch it! If you’ve seen it and like it, invite some friends over, make some fresh egg nog, and watch it together.

This two minute clip from Stanfords Entrepreneurship Corner summarizes a bit of what I’m feeling right now as I decide what’s next in my career…
Komisar talks about what he looks forward to in his career and life. He advises others who are unsure about the future to find ways to optimize their situation, the people they work with, and the flow of available opportunities. He also notes that the notion of being in motion is an important aspect of who he is and what he enjoys doing.

I recently came across the “We Are What We Do” movement, started in the UK (http://www.wearewhatwedo.org/) . I wholeheartedly believe in the ethos of this movement and site, and wanted to post it here.

Looking through the items on their “Do Something” list reminds me of Saatchi & Saatchi S / Walmart’s Personal Sustainability Programs (PSP). To me, that’s one of the best case studies in business for ‘Small Actions X Lots of People = Big Change’.

I do struggle with this type of project though… something about tracking the nice things you do on a website seems a bit contrived to me. The site seems more like a flash in the pan than a community that has staying power. And if we really are what we do - I’m not sure I want to glue myself to a computer screen any more than I have to. The books they’ve published are a bit more my speed.

Ghandi’s aphorism, “Be the change you want to see in the world,” just can’t be beat.

1) Be honest.

2) Communicate openly.

3) Have integrity.

4) Care about others.

5) Go for it.

(This is still a work in progress…but its a nice rough cut)

It’s all over the business pages that The Gap is struggling. It had an abysmal holiday season. It seemed to put a lot of chips on the table for its Product (RED) campaign - which flopped from what I can see. Paul Pressler, the former CEO, has stepped down. The company is thinking of spinning off some of its other brands such as the Banana Republic and Old Navy. Maybe the entire company will go private.

The press is buzzing with advice about what The Gap should do next (for example, see What the Gap Should Do Now). Most of the outsider advice has to do with marketing and creating resonant fashions. While both of those things are certainly important, I’d like to add one more item to the list: improving quality. I have been sorely disappointed with the quality of the clothes that I’ve seen recently at both The Gap and Old Navy. For example, my girlfriend’s recently purchased Gap brand jeans are so stretched out and misshapen that she is hesitant to wear them out of the house now. My new Old Navy pants (one of the only stores that has pants that fit me) are perhaps the worst quality pants I have ever owned. They just feel cheap. I should not have bought them.

The Gap used to be about value for money and durable fashions. I don’t get any value for my money if my clothes aren’t even durable enough to last a few washes - fashionable or not. I’m sure that the marketing folks hoped that consumers wouldn’t notice the gradual slide in quality. I’ve noticed and am proud to hold up a (RED) flag.

Now that I’m back in the states, living in San Francisco, and becoming involved with a highly educated crowd of professional consultants, I’m noticing that the use of the word “right” is getting a little out of hand in some circles. For example:

“So, the iPod is a great example of how human-centered product design and interaction design can lead to category-killing hardware and software innovation. Right.”

Or

“A problem with the iPhone is that it might be trying to do too much with one device. Right.”

“Right” sometimes seems to punctuate sentences in the way periods do in written prose. When the word is over-used in this way and is not used to give pause for reflection and validation of what’s being said, it comes across to me as a bit pompous. Instead of, “You’re with me here, right? You’re able to follow this logic train, right” it often comes across as “What I am saying is right. It might even be brilliant. And that’s just the tip of my huge iceberg of knowledge.”

Granted, I know people aren’t thinking this when they use the word “right” in most of these situations. However, I believe we need to start thinking of the word “right” in this context as a speech tick. It is used unintentionally, almost sub-consciously, in the same way that “like” is – and is creeping into business vernacular in the same way that “like” has grown like a cancer within the speech of most people under the age of 25.

I find myself using “right” and “like” on occasion too. But I don’t like it. Does anyone else hear me here? Will someone else help me nip this phenomenon in the bud?

I recently read an article in the New York Magazine about a new social phenomenon of people in their 30s and 40s who are still on the cutting edge of fashion, music, and culture (Up With Grups - The Ascendant Breed of Grown-Ups Who Are Redefining Adulthood). They are living like 22 year olds but with have the jobs, paychecks, responsibilities, and families of adults. Basically, in certain circles, the generation gap has disappeared. This is actually something I have been thinking about for a little while. There was a huge generation gap between my grandparents and parent’s generation and a smaller (but still very tangible) generation gap between my generation and my parents’. While the “Grups” in the article are still a few years my senior, I can relate. I think a few things are at work here:

1) My generation was brought up to be hard-wired for change. If there is one constant in society, it is change. And it comes faster and faster these days. In my grandparents’ generation, things changed an incredible amount. Cars weren’t widely adopted when they were kids, let alone the boom of computers. While they were good at driving this change with business , their culture (probably inherited somewhat from their parents) was more fixed. They were not used to things moving so fast. Not so at all with my generation. Since I was in middle school my generation has been used to keeping up with the latest trends - not just fashion trends but trends that redefine the way people live, like cell phones and e-mail. We are used to accepting change and learning how to adopt it.

2) We are spoiled. We have grown up in an era of incredible affluence and haven’t really been challenged as a generation. My grandparents had to deal with the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, etc… My parents had to deal with Vietnam. Our lives haven’t been disrupted by “duty” - either to country or family. Furthermore, my parents didn’t have Wal-Mart or China, Inc. to cater affordably to their every material need as they were growing up. My generation has grown up taking our incredible affluence and freedom of personal choice as a given - and we are choosing to continue to live a fast paced, ever-changing, life of fun. We are free to follow our passions.

3) We live in the era of “the long tail.” Our tastes and preferences are not defined in a generational way. Largely gone are the days of mega-blockbuster hits (movies and music) that are fed to us by huge media companies and widely adopted by a certain age group. Groups are now defined not as much by age, but by mindset. You’ll find me watching Bollywood movies, reading Tom Robbins, or listening to Merle Haggard. So at once my contemporaries are Indians, quirky baby boomers, and old-school blue collar republicans. There is no way you can cater to me in one fell swoop. My tastes and preferences change at different speeds in different areas of my life. As an avid music fan who grew up in the days of Napster, I can’t imagine ever not being at the cutting edge of the music scene. I’ll always be mingling with 18 year olds who choose to appreciate my kind of music.

I wrote this poem after doing something that I regretted.

Feel the sting.
Feel the burn.
Your mind aches.
Your mind yearns.
To go back in time
and change your mind.
But you can’t.
A lesson’s learned.