Great North Run

Today is the day of the Bupa Great North Run. An exciting day in itself, the run has become the most popular half marathon in all of the land, so I am told. And thousands of runners flock to the North to run over that famous bridge. This day however has a certain more excitment for me as the runners run across the bottom of my street. The days leading up to the event runners can be seen training and signs for road closures go up. It's an exciting time. The mood on the day is tangible and it is impossible not to smile as the runners jog past you. Standing in the crowd gives you such a buzz, I cannot imagine what you must feel running it (though I have considered it...then thought better of that idea).

As far as advertising, it's a dream come true for charities, who not only raise thousands of pounds via the runners but also get to splash their logos across T-Shirts and tents. It's such a positive place to be it seems the right thing to give to others. Other businesses also gain from their presence at the run, ice cream sellers being just one. A great advertising oppotunity, a great feeling and a great day out.

Christmas Terroists

Staying with the Christmas theme, just for now I promise, this is not going to become a blog obsessed with the season to be jolly.

It seems however that there are others which agree with my thought that christmas may be coming to early this year. They are called the "Movement for the Contianment of Christmas" and are apparently based in Leeds. This group has sent threatning letters to charity shops in Leeds with damage to thier property if they sell christmas cards before November the first. One threat is that the doors will be filled with glue if the shops fail to comply.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/early-christmas-card-threats-probed-1778777.html

This to me rings of a fight club type anochy. Normal people driven to extremes by the commercialisation of the world, and in this case a season. Though in theory I belive that christmas should be confined to December this to me this seems somewhat extreme. If it is leading to violence perhaps the card comapnies can have thier day

Disney Buys Christmas

It's offical Disney has taken over christmas. Borris Johnson, Mayor of London has agreed to turn the West End lights on to coincide the relsease of Disney's 'A Christmas Carol'. Yes, the lights are going on crazily early at the 3rd of Novemeber none the less. This seems crazy to me, a company has now bought the right to when we should start celebrating. I am not a religious person, but it seems to me that we have lost the meaning of christmas, surley some of the excitment and magic of chritmas will be lost if we sell it.

We already gave Santa to Coca Cola and the Christmas lights to Disney. What's next? I feel we should reclaim christmas from the companies, and yes perhaps even the advertisers, who we all know thrive on this time of year. Especially now if it destined to start early November. Is christmas becoming too commercial?

What is Glamour?

I found this video on the Guardian website, it is, I suppose research, done by Guardian photographer Christian Sinbaldi, in conjunction with Age Concern Camden. This reminded me of one of the D&AD briefs last year, about what is wealth and what is poverty, and the different ways these things could be viewed. It shares many of the same values of this Guardian project and interestingly that both projects were photographic, perhaps some things are too complex to explain away in a tangle of words. Sometimes it can be true that an image is worth a thousand words, and even though this video has an audio element to it, I feel that it is the images that are most striking. Here it strikes me that the difference between glamour and beauty, (though it could be looked on as age), has far more to do with respect. If you have respect for yourself, respect from others and respect for others then you are glamorous. If you are selfish though aesthetically pleasing you may be beautiful. Beautiful people see it in themselves where as glamorous people are seen in another’s eyes.http://http//www.guardian.co.uk/society/audioslideshow/2009/aug/18/christian-sinibaldi-age-concern-exhibition