As I have mentioned before, I (proudly) am an 80's child. I grew up in a time when Rom-Coms (romantic comedies, for those of you who live under rocks) ruled TV and movie land... In a time where Meg Ryan owned our hearts and we laughed and cried through films such as Can't Buy Me Love, When Harry Met Sally, Pretty Woman, Arthur and Moonstruck graced our screens.
In recent years, I fear the Rom-Com appeared to have lost its way... We have seen some shockers in recent years, such as America's Sweethearts, Maid in Manhattan, Down with Love, Along Came Polly, The Break Up and dare I even mention License to Wed!
Don't get me wrong, not all rom-coms since the 80's and early 90's have been terrible, but the sheer number of ones that should never made it to a public viewing is alarming considering how good the genre used to be.
But in saying that, I really have to give credit where credit is due and I finally think the movie industry has rediscovered the rom-com genre and brought it back to its former glory. We are only in August so far for 2009, and already we have seen a number of fantastic rom-coms on the big screen. I've just seen The Ugly Truth with Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler and it was quite simply one of the best rom-com movies I have seen in ages. Check out my review if you are interested.
So far this year we have also seen He's Just Not That Into You, The Proposal, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and Last Chance Harvey.
He's Just Not That Into You is a great, although slightly busy, movie. I have read the book and I was amazed at how well they were able to pull it together to make the movie. It has a stellar cast, and will make you laugh and cry, a sign of a trully good rom-com. I don't think this movie is for everyone, but the majority of you will love it. I'm not sure this is a DVD I will buy to add to my collection, but it is definitely one I will happily watch again.
The Proposal stars Ryan Reynold (serious drool factor, can't believe he married Scarlett Johansson!) and a latter day Queen of the rom-com genre, Sandra Bullock. I was really suprised at how funny this movie was! I never expected anything less from Ryan Reynolds - I am a huge fan from his Van Wilder days and he started to show his rom-com potential in Definitely Maybe, but I was unprepared for the hilarity of the on-screen chemistry he had with Sandra Bullock. I also had no idea she could be so funny!! I mean Miss Congeniality and Two Weeks Notice were ok, but it was cheap laughs as opposed to real wit, so I was bowled over by this movie. I actually originally saw this movie at a preview screening the weekend before it opened, but I loved it so much, I took another friend to see it again opening night. This is definitely a movie I will be pre-ordering and I already have a space for it on the shelf with my DVD collection.
Confessions of a Shopaholic primarily stars Bruno's better half, Isla Fisher. It's a rather funny movie, of which I can see a lot of myself in if I am honest! Although it is a tad predictable in rom-com terms, the comedy element is well done and it is a thoroughly enjoyable fim. I think I'll need to watch it again on DVD before I decide it I will buy it, unless I can find it in a discount bin at JB Hi-Fi, but it is defintely worth watching!
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past stars Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner. While I am not truly a fan of Jennifer Garner in this movie, the film itself is clever, witty and has all the hallmarks of a great rom-com. It is a tounge and cheek rip-off of Charles Dickens 'A Christmas Carol' where the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future have become the ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Present and Future to help stop playboy McConaughey missing out on true love. A lovely film and again, one that I will be pre-ordering and adding to my eclectic DVD collection.
Last Chance Harvey stars Emma Thomson and Dustin Hoffman. While this movie I believe would be far more appealing to my mother than me, I did find it a delightful movie to help reassure us that love is possible for us all, at any age... From an acting perspective, this is a stellar movie, but I do think there is more romance than comedy in this rom-com. Probably not one for my DVD collection, but definitely something I will rent and watch with mum at some stage.
All in all, I think that 2009 is shaping up to be fantastic year for the return of what I had previously though to be a rather tired genre. I have been pleasantly suprised and hope to see far more high calibre rom-com movies in coming months.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
RAVE: The Ugly Truth
We have a new contender for the crown of best on-screen orgasm thanks to the new movie The Ugly Truth!! Meg Ryan's performance in When Harry Met Sally is one of legend, thanks to the scene where she fakes an orgasm in a restaurant with Billy Crystal. The Ugly Truth, starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler, has gone one better in my opinion - thanks to a pair of naughty panties and one overly curious kid... Even if rom-coms (romantic comedies) are not your thing, you should watch this film in the very least for this scene, it will have you rolling in the aisles!
For those of you who are not so good with names, you'll probably know Katherine Heigl better for her role as Izzie Stevens on Greys Anatomy. If you're a bit more 'old school' or pop culture geek like myself, you will also remember her as Isabel Evans from Roswell.
Gerard Butler should need little introduction for most women out there, and possibly even to most men... Gerard earned a special place in my heart after his role as Gerry in P.S. I Love You (which if you haven't seen, you should stop reading this and go out and get it right now! Gerard Butler with an Irish accent, starring alongside Denny from Greys Anatomy and Harry Connick Junour is definitely not a movie to be missed!!), but the boys will most likely remember him from his role as King Leonidas in 300 (which I was more than happy to watch simply for the fact the Gerard goes without a shirt for most of the movie) or as One Two in RocknRolla.
Well, enough of my drooling and reminiscing, I did start to tell you about The Ugly Truth... I can't stand reviews that end up spoiling the movie for anyone who still hasn't seen it, so I will do my best.
Short synopsis: Abby (played by Katherine Heigl) is a producer for a local TV station in Sacremento. She is single and lives alone with her cat. She dates, in a rather cringe worthy way that would put Gigi from He's Just Not That Into You to shame! The ratings for the morning chat show she produces are falling and her boss basically says they need to find a way to save the show, or they will be out of a job... Enter Mike (played by Gerard Butler) who has risen to local fame through his cable TV show called The Ugly Truth. He is crass, chauvanistic, has no problem telling women what men are really after and leaves little to the imagination! Needless to say, Abby and Mike don't really hit it off, but when Mike learns that Abby is trying to get her neighbour, Colin, to ask her out, they strike a deal... Mike will tell Abby exactly what to say, how to act and what to wear in order to seal the deal. If he fails, he'll quit the show - either way Abby thinks she will win...
Or even better, check out the trailer below:
And in case you are thinking that Colin looks a little familiar? He is no other than Rex DiMera (Eric Winter) from Days of Our Lives! We are rather behind here down under so he looks a lot older than the character on our screens, but he was also recently on Brothers and Sisters as Jason McCallister.
Katherine Heigl is absolutely delightful in her role as Abby. She plays her uptight character trying to find her inner 'librarian and stripper' in order to find her perfect guy. Gerard Butler plays is cheeky and chauvanistic character of Mike really well, and together, they are pure rom-com gold! Their on-screen chemistry adds to the hilarity of a great script, and provides fabulous cringe-worthy scenes alongside truly laugh out loud moments - and the theatre was full of laughter for most of the movie.
You will love this if you enjoyed The Proposal, What Women Want, Knocked Up or When Harry Met Sally. I know it's primarily a chick-flick, but there are plenty of laughs and even some chicks jelly-wrestling for the boys. This movie will raise your spirits and get you laughing, so get off your butts, check out when it's on and get out to see it! It may not be a film that needs to be seen on the big screen, but I can tell you, it is great to watch with a crowd...
As for a rating - I think my reviews will be rated with one of the following statements:
1) FORGET IT, DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY
2) WAIT TO RENT IT ON DVD
3) PRE-ORDER NOW, BUY IT
4) GET OFF YOUR BUTT AND BOOK TICKETS NOW
This movie gets two ratings from me: GET OFF YOUR BUTT AND BOOK TICKETS NOW and PRE-ORDER NOW, BUY IT! This is definitely a movie I want to add to my DVD collection, and one I would happily watch again... In fact, I might even take mum to see it next week.
For those of you who are not so good with names, you'll probably know Katherine Heigl better for her role as Izzie Stevens on Greys Anatomy. If you're a bit more 'old school' or pop culture geek like myself, you will also remember her as Isabel Evans from Roswell.
Gerard Butler should need little introduction for most women out there, and possibly even to most men... Gerard earned a special place in my heart after his role as Gerry in P.S. I Love You (which if you haven't seen, you should stop reading this and go out and get it right now! Gerard Butler with an Irish accent, starring alongside Denny from Greys Anatomy and Harry Connick Junour is definitely not a movie to be missed!!), but the boys will most likely remember him from his role as King Leonidas in 300 (which I was more than happy to watch simply for the fact the Gerard goes without a shirt for most of the movie) or as One Two in RocknRolla.
Well, enough of my drooling and reminiscing, I did start to tell you about The Ugly Truth... I can't stand reviews that end up spoiling the movie for anyone who still hasn't seen it, so I will do my best.
Short synopsis: Abby (played by Katherine Heigl) is a producer for a local TV station in Sacremento. She is single and lives alone with her cat. She dates, in a rather cringe worthy way that would put Gigi from He's Just Not That Into You to shame! The ratings for the morning chat show she produces are falling and her boss basically says they need to find a way to save the show, or they will be out of a job... Enter Mike (played by Gerard Butler) who has risen to local fame through his cable TV show called The Ugly Truth. He is crass, chauvanistic, has no problem telling women what men are really after and leaves little to the imagination! Needless to say, Abby and Mike don't really hit it off, but when Mike learns that Abby is trying to get her neighbour, Colin, to ask her out, they strike a deal... Mike will tell Abby exactly what to say, how to act and what to wear in order to seal the deal. If he fails, he'll quit the show - either way Abby thinks she will win...
Or even better, check out the trailer below:
And in case you are thinking that Colin looks a little familiar? He is no other than Rex DiMera (Eric Winter) from Days of Our Lives! We are rather behind here down under so he looks a lot older than the character on our screens, but he was also recently on Brothers and Sisters as Jason McCallister.
Katherine Heigl is absolutely delightful in her role as Abby. She plays her uptight character trying to find her inner 'librarian and stripper' in order to find her perfect guy. Gerard Butler plays is cheeky and chauvanistic character of Mike really well, and together, they are pure rom-com gold! Their on-screen chemistry adds to the hilarity of a great script, and provides fabulous cringe-worthy scenes alongside truly laugh out loud moments - and the theatre was full of laughter for most of the movie.
You will love this if you enjoyed The Proposal, What Women Want, Knocked Up or When Harry Met Sally. I know it's primarily a chick-flick, but there are plenty of laughs and even some chicks jelly-wrestling for the boys. This movie will raise your spirits and get you laughing, so get off your butts, check out when it's on and get out to see it! It may not be a film that needs to be seen on the big screen, but I can tell you, it is great to watch with a crowd...
As for a rating - I think my reviews will be rated with one of the following statements:
1) FORGET IT, DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY
2) WAIT TO RENT IT ON DVD
3) PRE-ORDER NOW, BUY IT
4) GET OFF YOUR BUTT AND BOOK TICKETS NOW
This movie gets two ratings from me: GET OFF YOUR BUTT AND BOOK TICKETS NOW and PRE-ORDER NOW, BUY IT! This is definitely a movie I want to add to my DVD collection, and one I would happily watch again... In fact, I might even take mum to see it next week.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
BLOG: Quick Update on NPBHS Telethon Donation
Looks like the issue is heating up. New Plymouth Daily News has reported on it this morning and Kyle is being interviewed on the radio and TV today.
Monday, August 10, 2009
RANT: Click Through Rates - Who's Responsibility?
Recently I was briefing an online campaign into a high-profile media buying agency in New Zealand. I requested they include a particular website, but they tried to discourage me from including it, citing that their average CTR (click through rate) for their display ads was lower than average.
Well, this made me stop and think. I was the Online Marketing Manager and the site in question here was a perfect fit for the target audience for our campaign, why wouldn't we want to be on that site? Surely even if we got one click for the duration of the campaign, it would be more likely to convert through to a sale than a click through from a more generic site, with a far wider demographic, such as www.nzherald.co.nz.
And then I started to wonder, who's responsibility really is it for the CTR? I mean, I would be the one coming up with the campaign, the wording, writing the brief to have the ads made and ultimately approving the ads. Surely, if I had come up with a compelling campaign that appealed to my target market, they would (hopefully) click on the banner and go to my website to sign up or purchase, regardless of the website the banner ad was displayed on. The only real challenge I had was getting the media buying agency to recommend sites where I could reach the target market I wanted to see my ad.
As an Online Marketing Manager, I firmly believe that the CTR of my banner ads (and other online marketing tools such as Google Adwords) was ultimately my responsibility. I also believe it is the responsibility of the media buying agency to be able to recommend the websites where I could best reach my target market to achieve the best possible CTRs. In no way would I ever hold a website accountable for the CTR of my creative.
Interestingly, I also came up against this same issue when trying to sell advertising space. When I was working on Clearnet.co.nz I set the site up as a publisher, to create a revenue stream from ad sales on the site. An advertiser was wary of buying advertising space because the CTR they got last time was lower than they were expecting. I asked how well their creative had performed on other sites, and it seems they were similarly disappointed.
I feel that there is a few online myths circulating the marketing world, and I believe this is one of them. CTR is ultimately the responsibility of the creative, not of the website it is posted on, assuming the website fits the target market of the campaign.
To put it another way - if you ran a TVC (television commercial) on TV One and TV2, and you got a low response from both channels, would you blame TVNZ or rework the creative? If you put different phone numbers on the ads on the different channels so you could measure the different response rates and found that your response rate on TV One was less than 20% of the response rates on other channles, would you blame TVNZ or assume that the audience watching TV One is not your ideal target market? Time for marketing professionals to stand up and take ownership for the success and failures of your campaigns. More food for thought...
Well, this made me stop and think. I was the Online Marketing Manager and the site in question here was a perfect fit for the target audience for our campaign, why wouldn't we want to be on that site? Surely even if we got one click for the duration of the campaign, it would be more likely to convert through to a sale than a click through from a more generic site, with a far wider demographic, such as www.nzherald.co.nz.
And then I started to wonder, who's responsibility really is it for the CTR? I mean, I would be the one coming up with the campaign, the wording, writing the brief to have the ads made and ultimately approving the ads. Surely, if I had come up with a compelling campaign that appealed to my target market, they would (hopefully) click on the banner and go to my website to sign up or purchase, regardless of the website the banner ad was displayed on. The only real challenge I had was getting the media buying agency to recommend sites where I could reach the target market I wanted to see my ad.
As an Online Marketing Manager, I firmly believe that the CTR of my banner ads (and other online marketing tools such as Google Adwords) was ultimately my responsibility. I also believe it is the responsibility of the media buying agency to be able to recommend the websites where I could best reach my target market to achieve the best possible CTRs. In no way would I ever hold a website accountable for the CTR of my creative.
Interestingly, I also came up against this same issue when trying to sell advertising space. When I was working on Clearnet.co.nz I set the site up as a publisher, to create a revenue stream from ad sales on the site. An advertiser was wary of buying advertising space because the CTR they got last time was lower than they were expecting. I asked how well their creative had performed on other sites, and it seems they were similarly disappointed.
I feel that there is a few online myths circulating the marketing world, and I believe this is one of them. CTR is ultimately the responsibility of the creative, not of the website it is posted on, assuming the website fits the target market of the campaign.
To put it another way - if you ran a TVC (television commercial) on TV One and TV2, and you got a low response from both channels, would you blame TVNZ or rework the creative? If you put different phone numbers on the ads on the different channels so you could measure the different response rates and found that your response rate on TV One was less than 20% of the response rates on other channles, would you blame TVNZ or assume that the audience watching TV One is not your ideal target market? Time for marketing professionals to stand up and take ownership for the success and failures of your campaigns. More food for thought...
BLOG: Rant, Rave, Blog
Now that I have my first 'Rant' and 'Rave' out of the way, I thought I should probably just 'Blog' and tell you a little more about me and what I've started this blog.
Rave, Rant, Blog is something I have always talked about doing, but always told myself I was too busy with everything else I had going on in my life... My friends and colleagues will definitely tell you I am opinionated, but at the same time they will also say I am extremely passionate. I like to believe I have become opinionated because I get passionate about things :)
So what better time is there than now to finally get around to blogging about all the things I have wanted to rant and rave about... I'll 'Rant' about things when I want to get on my soapbox and I will 'Rave' about things to give credit where credit is due. The blog entries are just for when I have something to say that I hope might interest you...
I've worked in the online industry, with some amazing people, for over eight years now. I love all things to do with online, media and technology. I also love pop-culture, movies and gaming. Most recently, I worked on devising the plan and building Clearnet.co.nz which is TelstraClear's online content portal covering News, Sport, Weather, Gaming and Video. Unfortunately, due to funding issues, the site never fully developed to the intended scope, but it was an amazing project to work on and thanks to an amazing designer, it looks fantastic! I learnt a lot and thanks to the fantastic invention called the inter-web and the wonderful people who are part of my online communities, I continue to learn every day. I hope that others will also be able learn something from this blog and my experiences.
If you enjoy my posts, please feel free to leave comments and follow me on Twitter.
Rave, Rant, Blog is something I have always talked about doing, but always told myself I was too busy with everything else I had going on in my life... My friends and colleagues will definitely tell you I am opinionated, but at the same time they will also say I am extremely passionate. I like to believe I have become opinionated because I get passionate about things :)
So what better time is there than now to finally get around to blogging about all the things I have wanted to rant and rave about... I'll 'Rant' about things when I want to get on my soapbox and I will 'Rave' about things to give credit where credit is due. The blog entries are just for when I have something to say that I hope might interest you...
I've worked in the online industry, with some amazing people, for over eight years now. I love all things to do with online, media and technology. I also love pop-culture, movies and gaming. Most recently, I worked on devising the plan and building Clearnet.co.nz which is TelstraClear's online content portal covering News, Sport, Weather, Gaming and Video. Unfortunately, due to funding issues, the site never fully developed to the intended scope, but it was an amazing project to work on and thanks to an amazing designer, it looks fantastic! I learnt a lot and thanks to the fantastic invention called the inter-web and the wonderful people who are part of my online communities, I continue to learn every day. I hope that others will also be able learn something from this blog and my experiences.
If you enjoy my posts, please feel free to leave comments and follow me on Twitter.
RAVE: Telethon Embraces Digital Age
I am an 80's child from New Zealand, who grew up with many fond memories from Telethon. Needless to say, I was over the moon to hear that after 15 years, TV3 was bringing Telethon back to NZ screens and to a new generation of kiwis. Although, I wasn't so happy to find that I was in Australia visiting my parents last weekend when it aired... especially as one of the best things about Telethon is staying up and watching with friends and family!
I had resigned myself to missing out on all the fun, hopefully catching a few snippets on You Tube over the coming months, or the odd clip 'On Demand' on the TV3 site, assuming they didn't have the geo-filters on the content. But, thankfully, I was pleasantly suprised to see that the team behind Telethon thoroughly embraced the digital age, much more so than I would have ever expected!
Not only did TV3 have the entire 23 hours live streaming through their website (non geo-filtered thankfully!), but the Telethon team were also all over the main stream social media sites. On Facebook, they kept their 2,810 fans regularly updated, answering questions and posting pics. On Twitter, the Telethon team had another 659 followers and I had a great time making new friends with other followers such as @mraucklandguy, @kiwisnake, @ktkiwi and @matt_stephenson. The You Tube Channel is a tad undeveloped with only four posts and 27 subscribers, but I assume as more footage gets cut up, more will be uploaded... But then again, there may already be more footage on the TV3 website, but I couldn't find it...
So even though I found myself sitting alone in my room at my parents house in Western Australia, I was able to join in on all the action online. And even better, I was able to enjoy it with many other kiwis online and laugh as events unfolded, so I didn't actually feel alone.
It would have been nice though to see more use of the web for people to register pledges and dares, and also allow other people to vote or add to the pledges for dares to be completed. Being able to donate online these days was a given, although I personally would have liked to have been able to donate by text as well. But all in all, for the first truly integrated live event over tv and online, it was well executed.
Digital and social media, and how we use it, continues to amaze me. Bringing Telethon back and reaching kiwis all around the world through digital media is a real credit to the Telethon team and the amazing online communities that frequent sites like Twitter and Facebook. A job thoroughly well done, and they raised nearly NZ$2million in the process. Lets hope content providers for live events take note of the success of this integrated media approach and we see more of this in the future. No doubt we will see more of this in the future, especially as we move towards a full 'three-screen' strategy approach and we see the same content and media options delivered over mobile devices as well. Interactive and IPTV will also throw some interested challenges to content providers, but at the end of the day, it will all be to the benefit of us, the users, as we get a chance to interact more with content and with each other in ways that suit us.
Well done to the team at Telethon, you officially have my first 'RAVE'.
I had resigned myself to missing out on all the fun, hopefully catching a few snippets on You Tube over the coming months, or the odd clip 'On Demand' on the TV3 site, assuming they didn't have the geo-filters on the content. But, thankfully, I was pleasantly suprised to see that the team behind Telethon thoroughly embraced the digital age, much more so than I would have ever expected!
Not only did TV3 have the entire 23 hours live streaming through their website (non geo-filtered thankfully!), but the Telethon team were also all over the main stream social media sites. On Facebook, they kept their 2,810 fans regularly updated, answering questions and posting pics. On Twitter, the Telethon team had another 659 followers and I had a great time making new friends with other followers such as @mraucklandguy, @kiwisnake, @ktkiwi and @matt_stephenson. The You Tube Channel is a tad undeveloped with only four posts and 27 subscribers, but I assume as more footage gets cut up, more will be uploaded... But then again, there may already be more footage on the TV3 website, but I couldn't find it...
So even though I found myself sitting alone in my room at my parents house in Western Australia, I was able to join in on all the action online. And even better, I was able to enjoy it with many other kiwis online and laugh as events unfolded, so I didn't actually feel alone.
It would have been nice though to see more use of the web for people to register pledges and dares, and also allow other people to vote or add to the pledges for dares to be completed. Being able to donate online these days was a given, although I personally would have liked to have been able to donate by text as well. But all in all, for the first truly integrated live event over tv and online, it was well executed.
Digital and social media, and how we use it, continues to amaze me. Bringing Telethon back and reaching kiwis all around the world through digital media is a real credit to the Telethon team and the amazing online communities that frequent sites like Twitter and Facebook. A job thoroughly well done, and they raised nearly NZ$2million in the process. Lets hope content providers for live events take note of the success of this integrated media approach and we see more of this in the future. No doubt we will see more of this in the future, especially as we move towards a full 'three-screen' strategy approach and we see the same content and media options delivered over mobile devices as well. Interactive and IPTV will also throw some interested challenges to content providers, but at the end of the day, it will all be to the benefit of us, the users, as we get a chance to interact more with content and with each other in ways that suit us.
Well done to the team at Telethon, you officially have my first 'RAVE'.
RANT: Freedom of Choice
I firmly believe in two basic rights - freedom of speech and freedom of choice. Many of us believe we have these basic rights, but what happens when information is witheld from you? Do you really have freedom of choice?
The reason I raise this is due to a controversy that is rearing it's head in the New Zealand town of New Plymouth. Over the weekend, New Zealand held its first Telethon in 15 years. As part of fundraising activities for the Telethon, New Plymouth Boys High School (NPBHS) held a mufti-day for students where they donated money so they could go to school in their own clothes instead of wearing their uniform for the day.
The short version of the story is that despite having over 1300 students at the school, most of which participated in the mufti-day, who each donates $2 to Telethon, only $500 was given to the cause which was raising money for KidsCan. For more details on this, please read Kyle's Blog on the Telethon Ripoff and his Update on the NPBHS Telethon Ripoff.
The school advised that the fundraiser was for Telethon and KidsCan, therefore the students (and their parents who probably gave them the money) participated on the basis that the funds they were giving to the school were going to be donated to Telethon on their behalf. Otherwise, the students and their families could have just donated directly to Telethon or KidsCan.
In the faith of full disclosure here, if the school did not intend to donate all funds, they should have just called it a charity fundraiser. At the very least, be able to provide you a list of the other ‘charities’ they donated funds from the mufti-day to and how much. What are school fees for if not to pay for keeping the school running? Not to mention all the money we pay in taxes each year so the government can give them more money to keep them running... If NPBHS cannot run on the money from fees and from our taxes, then they should really be looking at their operating costs and where they are spending their money, not asking for more money from students and families under the guise of a mufti-day.
I am sure that if the students and families knew that the money not all going to KidsCan and Telethon, but to the school and other undisclosed charities that less people would have participated, but at least then they would have been making an INFORMED choice. At the end of the day, we should not only have freedom of speech, but we should also have freedom of CHOICE. Where information is witheld from us for whatever reason, we do not truly have that freedom.
This is not what I expected my first blog entry to be on, but it really got me thinking about the opinions we have and the choices we think we are making. Our daily choices are based on the information we have been given or acquired from different sources, but how much do we really know? Are we really making informed decisions, or are our decisions actually being made for us by the people who choose what we are told... Just a bit of food for thought.
The reason I raise this is due to a controversy that is rearing it's head in the New Zealand town of New Plymouth. Over the weekend, New Zealand held its first Telethon in 15 years. As part of fundraising activities for the Telethon, New Plymouth Boys High School (NPBHS) held a mufti-day for students where they donated money so they could go to school in their own clothes instead of wearing their uniform for the day.
The short version of the story is that despite having over 1300 students at the school, most of which participated in the mufti-day, who each donates $2 to Telethon, only $500 was given to the cause which was raising money for KidsCan. For more details on this, please read Kyle's Blog on the Telethon Ripoff and his Update on the NPBHS Telethon Ripoff.
The school advised that the fundraiser was for Telethon and KidsCan, therefore the students (and their parents who probably gave them the money) participated on the basis that the funds they were giving to the school were going to be donated to Telethon on their behalf. Otherwise, the students and their families could have just donated directly to Telethon or KidsCan.
In the faith of full disclosure here, if the school did not intend to donate all funds, they should have just called it a charity fundraiser. At the very least, be able to provide you a list of the other ‘charities’ they donated funds from the mufti-day to and how much. What are school fees for if not to pay for keeping the school running? Not to mention all the money we pay in taxes each year so the government can give them more money to keep them running... If NPBHS cannot run on the money from fees and from our taxes, then they should really be looking at their operating costs and where they are spending their money, not asking for more money from students and families under the guise of a mufti-day.
I am sure that if the students and families knew that the money not all going to KidsCan and Telethon, but to the school and other undisclosed charities that less people would have participated, but at least then they would have been making an INFORMED choice. At the end of the day, we should not only have freedom of speech, but we should also have freedom of CHOICE. Where information is witheld from us for whatever reason, we do not truly have that freedom.
This is not what I expected my first blog entry to be on, but it really got me thinking about the opinions we have and the choices we think we are making. Our daily choices are based on the information we have been given or acquired from different sources, but how much do we really know? Are we really making informed decisions, or are our decisions actually being made for us by the people who choose what we are told... Just a bit of food for thought.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
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