Aviation Safety Rate

Air travel has been getting increasingly frustrating, with fees, crowds and other hassles, but passengers may be glad to know that 2009 was a banner year for aviation safety.

The year's accident rate for Western-built jet aircraft was the second lowest in modern aviation history -- just behind 2006, according to a new report by the International Air Transport Association. The group started keeping records in 1964.

"It's the airlines continuing to invest in training and technology on the aircraft," said Steve Lott, the group's head of communications for North America.

"We like to remind passengers that they are still in very safe hands.Aviation is still the safest form of transportation, and looking at the statistics, it's still very rare and growing increasingly rare that we see any accidents."

In 2009, the global accident rate for Western-built jet aircraft equaled to one accident for every 1.4 million flights, the air transport group found.

To put it another way, if you were to take a flight every day, odds are you could go 3,859 years without an accident, according to the group's report.

When accidents did happen last year, pilot handling was a contributing factor in 30 percent of the cases, showing how important the human element is to aviation safety, Lott said.

"How do we improve that? It really comes down to training," he said.

Runway excursions, such as the December incident when an American Airlines jet overran a runway in Kingston, Jamaica, accounted for 26 percent of accidents in 2009.

Ground damage accounted for a 10th of accidents last year. How do those happen? One example is when a catering or fuel truck runs into a plane parked at the gate, causing damage and flight cancellations, Lott said.

The 2009 accident rate was significantly higher on Eastern-built aircraft, or those made in Russia and China, but flights on those planes represent about 2 percent of all flights around the world, Lott said.

Neural Advertising

If you're like most people, you're way too smart for advertising. You flip right past newspaper ads, never click on ads online and leave the room during TV commercials.

That, at least, is what we tell ourselves. But what we tell ourselves is hooey. Advertising works, which is why, even in hard economic times, Madison Avenue is a $34 billion--a--year business. And if Martin Lindstrom--author of the best seller Buyology and a marketing consultant for FORTUNE 500 companies, including PepsiCo and Disney--is correct, trying to tune this stuff out is about to get a whole lot harder.

Lindstrom is a practitioner of neuromarketing research, in which consumers are exposed to ads while hooked up to machines that monitor brain activity, pupil dilation, sweat responses and flickers in facial muscles, all of which are markers of emotion. According to his studies, 83% of all forms of advertising principally engage only one of our senses: sight. Hearing, however, can be just as powerful, though advertisers have taken only limited advantage of it. Historically, ads have relied on jingles and slogans to catch our ear, largely ignoring everyday sounds--a steak sizzling, a baby laughing and other noises our bodies can't help paying attention to. Weave this stuff into an ad campaign, and we may be powerless to resist it.

To figure out what most appeals to our ear, Lindstrom wired up his volunteers, then played them recordings of dozens of familiar sounds, from McDonald's ubiquitous "I'm Lovin' It" jingle to birds chirping and cigarettes being lit. The sound that blew the doors off all the rest--both in terms of interest and positive feelings--was a baby giggling. The other high-ranking sounds were less primal but still powerful. The hum of a vibrating cell phone was Lindstrom's second-place finisher. Others that followed were an ATM dispensing cash, a steak sizzling on a grill and a soda being popped and poured.

In all of these cases, it didn't take a Mad Man to invent the sounds, infuse them with meaning and then play them over and over until the subjects internalized them. Rather, the sounds already had meaning and thus triggered a cascade of reactions: hunger, thirst, happy anticipation.

"Cultural messages that get into your nervous system are very common and make you behave certain ways," says neuroscientist Read Montague of Baylor College of Medicine. Advertisers who fail to understand that pay a price. Lindstrom admits to being mystified by TV ads that give viewers close-up food-porn shots of meat on a grill but accompany that with generic jangly guitar music. One of his earlier brain studies showed that numerous regions, including the insula and orbital frontal cortex, jump into action when such discordance occurs, trying to make sense of it.

TV advertisers aren't the only ones who may start putting sound to greater use. Retailers are also catching on. The 0101 department store in Japan, for example, has been designed as a series of soundscapes, playing different sound effects such as children at play, birdsongs and lapping water in the sportswear, fragrance and formal-wear sections. Lindstrom is consulting with clients about employing a similar strategy in European supermarkets, piping the sound of percolating coffee or fizzing soda into the beverage department or that of a baby cooing into the baby-food aisle.

None of this means that advertisers just have to turn the audio dials and consumers will come running. Indeed, sometimes they flee. In the early years of mainstream cell-phone use, the Nokia ringtone was recognized by 42% of people in the U.K.--and soon became widely loathed. That, Lindstrom says, was partly because so few users practiced cell-phone etiquette and the blasted things kept going off in movie theaters. The Microsoft start-up sound has taken on similarly negative associations, because people so often hear it when they're rebooting after their computer has crashed. In these cases, manufacturers themselves must reboot by changing the offending sound slightly or replacing it entirely.

If history is any indication, marketers will keep getting more manipulative, and the storm of commercial noise will become more focused. Even then, there may be hope: Lindstrom's testing shows that people respond to a sound better when it's subtler. If nothing else, smart marketers may at least keep the volume low.

Print Ad of the Week

The Dangers of Online Oversharing

Think before you tweet. You might not be aware of how much information you're revealing.


That's the message from the founders of Please Rob Me, a website launched on Tuesday that illustrates just how easy it is to rob people blind on the basis of the information they're posting on the Web. The site uses streams of data from Foursquare, an increasingly popular location-based social network that is based on a game-like premise. Players use smart phones or laptops to "check in" to a location, recording their position on a map for friends using the service to see. The more often you check in, the better your chances of being declared the mayor of a particular location, be it a restaurant, bar, office or even your own home. 


The problem comes when users also post these locations to Twitter, says Boy van Amstel, one of the founders of Please Rob Me. Then the information becomes publicly available, making it theoretically possible for a robber (or anyone else) to keep tabs on when you say you're in your home or not.


"We saw people checking in at their home addresses, or even worse, those of their friends and family," van Amstel says. "Which we just thought was very wrong."


Van Amstel is no expert hacker, and Please Rob Me isn't a complicated website; it's simply a dressed-up page of Twitter search results that monitors the latest posts of users sharing their locations via Foursquare. And there are a lot of results — thousands of people willingly broadcast when they're not at home (it's rarer for users to post to Foursquare when they return). A select, misguided few broadcast their address or those of unknowing and disapproving friends or family. This makes the site more useful at proving a point than an actual tool for robbers to exploit.


But there will only be more opportunities for users to overshare. The success of Foursquare (the site has more than 150,000 users) has spawned a series of imitators. The popular review site Yelp recently enabled a similar functionality in its mobile application, and Facebook may soon add location-sharing too.


So how can you keep yourself off Please Rob Me and, more important, keep your home out of the police blotter? A little foresight goes a long way. Sites like Foursquare and its competitors don't post your location unless you give it to them, nor is it posted to Twitter without your consent. It's always up to the user to decide what to post. Are you going to get robbed because you're oversharing? It's unlikely. But if nothing else, Please Rob Me shows that sometimes a little discretion online can go a long way.

Picture of the Week

Recruitment Ads

Why Advertise?
The aim of advertising is to make people aware that a vacancy exists and to persuade them to apply for the position. Advertising helps to 'market' UTS by defining exactly what it is the University stands for, and what separates it from its competitors. Often the people you want to attract are not openly looking for a new job, so you need to think of ways to sell the attributes of the University, eg. what makes it unique, its culture, values, philosophy and so on.
Good advertising highlights the assets of the position and appeals to the career needs and concerns of the desired applicants. It's worth making your advertisement effective and attractive, as there is a high correlation between advertisements with accurate and complete information and recruitment success.


What Makes A Good Advertisement?
The headline captures candidates' attention.
The first few lines are interesting, engaging and actively sell the position.
Sentences are short and to the point, providing enough information to interest candidates but not to overload them.
The advertisement avoids the use of words that are difficult to understand.
Points are made using as few words as possible (the less copy you use, the smaller the media space and therefore the lower the cost).
The advertisement contains some white space and does not appear cramped.


What To Do?
Use the templates and samples or download the advertisement templates to create advertisements in the UTS format. You can use the templates alone, cut and paste from the sample ads or use a mixture of both to create your ad. Normally you will need to write a pointer ad for mainstream press and a display ad for the UTS Employment Opportunities website.
Get some feedback. Your contact in the Human Resources Unit (HRU) can provide advice and feedback on your advertising copy. It may take some time before you are happy with the ad, so begin writing well before advertising deadlines close.
Print out your completed advertisements and send them to your contact in HRU, as part of the approval process. You must also send electronic copies to your contact in HRU so that they can make it available to applicants.


Writing a Recruitment Advertisement
Business is thriving and you're ready to expand your enterprise by taking on extra staff. But how do you write an effective recruitment advertisement to ensure you attract the calibre of applicants you desire?
Tanya Arturi of recruitment agency TopJobs advises that companies should think carefully before simply putting pen to paper or fingertip to keyboard.
Arturi says: "Just as a CV creates the first impression to a prospective employer, a recruitment advertisement is a company's marketing tool and must be written to attract the right candidate for the job. The worst-case scenario is an in tray full of CVs from people with irrelevant skills and qualifications. Remember quantity does not guarantee quality!"


TopJobs recommend the following ten-step guide for writing a recruitment advert:
Consider what exactly is the job? You may know the job title, but are you totally clear what the role involves? The better you understand the role, the clearer your ad will be.
Who is my ideal candidate? It is useful to build a mental picture of the sort of person you, and the existing team, see fitting in. When it comes to wording your ad, write as if you were speaking to your imaginary candidate.
What skills am I looking for? It is tempting to request high-level academic qualifications to try to filter out weaker candidates, but exam results aren't necessarily the best indicators of workplace ability. You may be better off asking applicants to demonstrate their financial, people management and organisational abilities.
What experience must applicants have? It is common practice to include in the ad the minimum number of years' experience you will consider. This, however, fails to acknowledge the efforts of younger candidates who may have fast-tracked through their careers. It is a good idea, instead, to state the precise areas of experience you are looking for e.g. 'experience of account-handling clients worth over £5million a year' or 'proven track-record of exceeding sales targets by more than ten per cent per quarter'.
What extra-curricular activities am I interested in? It can be a useful exercise to ask applicants to include details of their non-work interests and achievements. This can often be a good indicator of a potential candidate's social skills, determination and their attitudes towards others.
What response do I want to get from the ad? It is worth considering what level of response you hope to achieve prior to placing your ad. If the role is specialist and senior, you may prefer to receive six excellent applications rather than 60 average ones. On the other hand, for a graduate trainee position you may prefer a bigger choice. The more specific your wish list, the fewer, better targeted, responses you are likely to receive.
What facts must I include? At the very least, your ad should include: the name and address of your company with a brief description of the nature of the business; the job title of the position being advertised and a summary of responsibilities; special requirements (including out-of-hours working or travel); closing date for applications; and details on how to reply, and to whom.
How do I reflect the personality of the company? A recruitment ad is a marketing opportunity, so it is a good idea to reflect the company's brand values in your layout. For example, you should always use your corporate logo, colours and, if appropriate, your strap line. Typefaces, too, can be used to reflect the personality of your company; Comic Sans is light-hearted, whereas Times New Roman is fairly formal. Your choice of wording is extremely important – too complex and you could give the impression of inaccessibility, too jocular and you may lose credibility. It can be a good idea to ask existing employees to compare your proposed wording with their experiences of the company.
How can I make the ad stand out? Once you have decided where you are going to place your ad, take a look at your competition. What other companies, and what positions, is your ad vying for attention with? Then consider how you can word your ad (particularly the headline) so that it stands above the rest. You may be able to claim you're the country's 'leading supplier' or that you offer 'unparalleled' management training.
Have I made the job look attractive? Put yourself in the role of a potential applicant and ask yourself: 'If this was my area of expertise, would I be tempted to apply for this role?'. If the answer is 'no', then the ad isn't doing its job. Find out what attracted the existing team to apply for their jobs and use that information to structure the ad. For example, you may find that training is a key motivator or that the financial package was a major draw. Play on your strengths and keep the ad benefit-oriented.

Cartoon of the Week

The DSM: How Psychiatrists Redefine 'Disordered'

The attempt to catalog all the ways that a person can go crazy dates at least to 1840, when the Census included a question on "idiocy/insanity." From those two simple categories, there are now more than 300 separate disorders; they are listed in a 943-page book called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM for short. The book is important because doctors, insurers and researchers all over the world use it as a reference, a dictionary of everything humanity considers to be mentally unbalanced.


Here is the first comprehensive look at what might go into the book's latest version, the DSM-5. Currently, the DSM is disjointed and disorganized — at times well researched and at times anachronistic. The present version, the DSM-IV-TR (the TR stands for "text revision"), was published in 2000. It begins with "mild mental retardation" moves on to common illnesses like depression and odd ones like dyspareunia (painful sexual intercourse not due to a medical condition) and ends with the vague "personality disorder not otherwise specified." The rhyme and reason behind the DSM have always been murky; the book, like our brains, is a huge, complicated beast.


The American Psychiatric Association (APA), which publishes the DSM, has long wanted the fifth version to be a more rational, understandable document, but that's not proving to be easy. Publication has been delayed at least twice, and the association now doesn't expect to produce DSM-5 until 2013, 14 years after research on it began. One reason is that there are so many stakeholders: patients, shrinks, HMOs, academics. Patients want their illnesses covered; shrinks need to get paid, and academics want definitions to be consistent with research — research that is itself uneven. Sometimes, DSM changes can be made on the basis of long-term, peer-reviewed studies. But other times, such gold-standard research data is lacking, and changes must be made on the basis of consensus among clinicians. The process is fraught and confusing, even for those in the middle of it.


Still, the launch of dsm5.org — where suggested changes to the DSM were posted Feb. 10 for public comment — is a major step. Here are five ways the APA is proposing to address major criticisms of older versions of the book:


1. Contain the definition of a mental illness within sensible borders. 
A major problem with earlier versions was mission creep: In 1980, the APA published DSM-III, which radically expanded what clinicians could define as disordered. One example: depression. The pre-1980 definition had described "depressive neurosis" as "an excessive reaction of depression due to an internal conflict or to an identifiable event such as the loss of a love object." The much longer 1980 definition (which carried on into DSM-IV and DSM-IV-TR, with slight modifications) omitted the requirement that symptoms be "excessive" in proportion to cause. In fact, the revised manual said nothing about causes and listed symptoms instead.


To be diagnosed with major depressive disorder today, you need have only five symptoms for two weeks, which can include such common problems as depressed mood, weight gain, insomnia, fatigue and indecisiveness. The current DSM does make an exception for bereavement: if you recently lost a loved one, such symptoms are not considered disordered. But the manual doesn't make exceptions for other things that make us sad — divorce, financial stress, a life-threatening illness.


The proposed revisions would change that and once again take into account severity of symptoms. The new definition of all mental disorders would include the proviso that they "must not be merely an expectable response to common stressors and losses."


2. Define mental disorders along a continuum rather than as binary possibilities. 
When he spoke at a New York City DSM conference last year, Harvard provost Dr. Steven Hyman, a former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, argued that most mental disorders cannot be seen as discrete all-or-nothing illnesses like leukemia (which you either have or don't). Rather, he said, they should be seen as "continuous with normal," less like leukemia and more like hypertension. Hyman seems to have won the battle here — in particular, social-interaction disorders like autism and Asperger's will now be defined along a single spectrum (autism spectrum disorders), rather than as separate conditions. The proposed change has brought controversy: many high-functioning people with Asperger's disorder would rather not see themselves in the same category as those whose autism is so severe that they cannot dress themselves.


3. Address the problem of including certain minor addiction disorders (caffeine intoxication) but excluding others (compulsive gambling). 
These are relatively infrequent diagnoses, but they seem highly capricious. Isn't compulsive gambling a sign of a bigger problem? Isn't caffeine intoxication usually an accident? That's one reason the whole category of "substance-related disorders" has chipped away at the authority of the DSM. The new DSM would rationalize the system. There are no plans to change the diagnostic criteria of "caffeine intoxication" (essentially, drinking so much coffee or Red Bull that you go nuts, at least temporarily), but the APA is considering whether "non-substance addictions" like compulsive gambling, shopping and eating are related to traditional substance abuse — and, if so, how. Also, it has proposed re-titling the category of substance-related disorders to "Addiction and Related Disorders." No decisions have been made, but this research process is promising and long overdue.


4. Overhaul the strange grouping of personality disorders. 
Currently, personality disorders include everything from the debilitating, often deadly illness known as borderline personality disorder to the dated, rather sexist "illness" known as histrionic personality disorder, a symptom of which is that the sufferer "consistently uses physical appearance to draw attention to self." Who doesn't do that?


In the DSM-5, histrionic personality disorder would be eliminated, and personality disorders would be reduced to five key types: antisocial, avoidant, borderline, obsessive-compulsive, and schizotypal (a word for so eccentric that you don't get along with others).


5. Rethink the definitions of sexual and gender identity disorders. 
Today, heterosexual men can be diagnosed with a supposed disorder called "transvestic fetishism" if they meet only two criteria: they have sexual fantasies about cross-dressing, and those fantasies cause "impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas." What's more, the DSM considers aversion to sex a sex disorder, even though the condition has less to do with low sex drive than outsized feelings of fear and avoidance — more like a phobia.


The DSM-5 proposes to update this category by including "hypersexual disorder." Although the name sounds like something Han Solo might have had, the proposed criteria make sense: sexual fantasies take up so much time that they become repetitive, debilitating and harmful to normal functioning. Also, "sexual avoidance disorder" would be dropped and "transvestic fetishism" would become "transvestic disorder," although the diagnostic criteria themselves would not change: the DSM still seems to have a problem with cross-dressing.


Overall, the DSM-5 is shaping up to be a much better reference than its predecessor. There will be months of negotiations — anyone can register at dsm5.org to comment, and consumer groups, day-to-day therapists, research psychologists and many others will have a say. But give the APA one thing: it seems to acknowledge, finally, that it is not the sole arbiter of what makes a person crazy.

10 Foods for a Healthy Heart

Keep Your Heart Healthy
Heart disease is the leading cause of death throughout the world. Dietary advice for reducing heart disease risk includes eating a balanced diet with less saturated fat from red meats, more fresh fruits and vegetables, more fish, less sugar, more fiber and for many people, fewer total calories. Then you can make your heart and the rest of your cardiovascular system even healthier by adding more of these foods:

Olive Oil

Olive oil reduces your risk of heart disease by lowering your LDL cholesterol levels. Choose olive oil for cooking, or make a nice dip for whole grain bread by pouring a bit of olive oil in a small bowl and add a bit of balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of oregano.

Salmon
Fish is an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids that protect your heart by reducing both inflammation and the risk of blood clots. These fats also work to keep your cholesterol levels healthy. Eat salmon or other oily ocean fish like tuna, sardines or herring at least two times per week. For a heart-healthy meal, try grilled salmon steaks with a green vegetable and a side salad with a sprinkling of lemon juice instead of high-calorie salad dressing.


Oats
Oats contain a soluble fiber called beta glucan that helps reduce total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. Soluble fiber also helps keep your digestive system healthy. Enjoy oatmeal with just a small amount of brown sugar and plenty of strawberries and walnuts for breakfast. Cold cereals made with oats are also great with low-fat milk or soy milk plus slices of fresh fruit.


Apples
Apples contain a phytochemical called quercetin which acts as an antiinflammatory and will help prevent blood clots as well. Apples contain vitamins and fiber, come in several delicious varieties and are portable. Eat an apple with a handful of walnuts or almonds as a healthy snack or add apple slices to your healthy salads.


Almonds
Almonds and other nuts contain healthy oils, vitamin E and other substances that will help keep cholesterol levels in check. Almonds are also a good source of protein and fiber. Almonds make a great snack on their own, or sprinkle slivered almonds on green beans or asparagus with lemon juice as a deliciously healthy side dish.


Red Wine
Red wine contains a powerful antioxidant called resveratrol. Resveratrol has been shown to be good for your heart. Be sure to enjoy red wine in moderation. Studies show that only 4 to 8 ounces of red wine is needed each day.


Whole Grains
Whole grains provide vitamins and fiber that will help to keep your heart healthy. Make a deliciously healthy sandwich with two slices of 100-percent whole-grain bread, three ounces of lean turkey breast, lots of sliced tomatoes and avocado, plus lettuce and a bit of mustard. Switch from white pasta to whole grain pasta too.


Green Leafy Vegetables
Green leafy vegetables contain folate, which helps to keep homocysteine levels down, and vitamin E. Green leafy vegetables have also been associated with better retention of memory as age. Try using fresh spinach leaves or other greens for your favorite salad instead of iceberg lettuce.


Tomatoes
Tomatoes are packed with vitamins and lycopene, which has been shown to reduce heart disease risk. Add thick slices of tomatoes to sandwiches and salads or enjoy tomato sauce on whole wheat pasta. In fact, cooked tomato sauce and canned tomato sauce that you buy in the store both contain more lycopene than raw tomatoes.


Soy
Soy protein has been shown to prevent heart attacks and soy makes an excellent protein substitute for red meat, which will reduce your saturated fat intake. Add tofu to your favorite stir fry or pour soy milk on your morning cereal.

Picture of the Week

Behind Pepsi's Choice to Skip This Year's Super Bowl

For advertisers, it's never easy to sit out the Super Bowl. Sure, the spots are pricey — between $2.5 million and $3 million for this year's game, which will be played on Feb. 7. But the 100 million–strong audience, which includes a slew of people tuning in solely to dissect the commercials, almost guarantees instant brand buzz. No one knows this better than Pepsi, which has produced some memorable Super Bowl spots: a sweltering Cindy Crawford sipping on a Pepsi while a couple of adolescent boys admire the can, Britney Spears gyrating for the camera, those stupid dancing bears. In fact, Pepsi has advertised during the Super Bowl for 23 consecutive years. So why is the company skipping this year's big game, leaving the airwaves to its salivating rival, Coke, which will air two different spots, including one starring the incredibly popular characters from The Simpsons?


To Pepsi, and to companies around the world, the days when mass-market media is the sole vehicle to reach an audience are officially over. Instead of pouring millions of dollars into a Super Bowl commercial, Pepsi has started a social-media campaign to promote its "Pepsi Refresh" initiative. Pepsi plans to give away $20 million in grant money to fund projects in six categories: health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods and education. People can go to the Pepsi website refresheverything.com — which can also be accessed through Facebook and Twitter — to both submit ideas and vote on others they find appealing. Among those on the site now: "Help free healthcare clinic expand services to uninsured in rural TN" and "Build a fitness center for all students in Hays, Kansas community." Every month, the company will offer up to 32 grants to worthy projects.


"This is such a fundamental change from anything we've done in the past," says Lauren Hobart, chief marketing officer for Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages. "It's a big shift. We explored different launch plans, and the Super Bowl just wasn't the right venue, because we're really trying to spark a full-year movement from the ground up. The plan is to have much more two-way dialogue with our customers."


These days, viral marketing seems like a smart strategy. "This is exactly where Pepsi needs to be," says Sophie Ann Terrisse, founder and CEO of STC Associates, a brand-consulting firm. "These days, brands need to become a movement instead of just relying on good reviews for their Super Bowl commercials." But why not hit customers from both the top down and the bottom up? Pepsi executives are quick to point out that there will be traditional television advertising for Pepsi Refresh, just not during the Super Bowl. If you're going to launch a charitable initiative that can build goodwill toward your brand, however, isn't 100 million captive viewers an attractive audience? If you're going to give away $20 million, what's another $3 million to build more excitement for your project and, hopefully, sales of your soda?


The problem, say marketing experts, is mixing the medium with the message. "The Super Bowl is just too extravagant for something like this," says Lee Clow, chief creative officer and global director of media arts at TBWA Worldwide, the agency that created Pepsi's campaign. "It's seems like a contradiction to say you're going to set aside $20 million in marketing dollars for a worthy cause, then turn around and spend $12 million on two 60-second spots for the Super Bowl. Couldn't that money be put to better use?"


Plus, says Clow, the Super Bowl audience comes with certain expectations. People want the commercials to entertain them. They want to see others having a good time, because they're having a good time themselves at a Super Bowl party. They want to talk about the ads at the watercooler. "If you show up with something serious like [Pepsi Refresh], you're going to get ignored," says Clow, who also masterminded Apple's legendary "1984" Super Bowl ad. "If you're going to be there, you have to do something over the top." Some serious spots, like the anti-abortion ad from Focus on the Family, in which the mother of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow explains how she ignored doctor's orders to terminate her pregnancy with her star son, could fit because they stir controversy. There's nothing controversial about building rural health clinics.


Pepsi's sales will determine whether the company is blowing a golden opportunity by skipping this year's Super Bowl and whether goodwill actually increases the bottom line. Are people going to suddenly start drinking sugary fizz because Pepsi is being philanthropic? It's not like corporate responsibility is suddenly in vogue: show me a Fortune 500 company, and I'll show you why that company insists it's the most generous organization in the world.


Still, it's refreshing to see brands take a risk for what seems like a good cause. But don't leave Super Bowl advertising for dead. CBS, which will broadcast the game, just sold out its Super Bowl ad inventory, and stalwarts like Coke and Anheuser-Busch are still running spots. "This is our big effort for 2010 and beyond," says Hobart, the Pepsi marketing executive. "We think it's a flagship for our company. But I would never say we wouldn't entertain Super Bowl advertising again." If Pepsi realizes it fumbled by skipping this year's Super Bowl, there is no doubt that it will rush right back into the game.