Here is a copy of the letter I sent to principals involved in The Gazette/USC issue that I truly hope provides all parties involved a little perspective.
What both sides need to remember is that they’re trying to do the exact same thing: provide Western’s students with the best service they can. Continue reading
By Jason Menard
The eyes of the world will be on London in just a few short weeks — and it appears that our civic inferiority complex will be on full display.
Highlighted by a laser light show; edged with spray-painted trees, and bankrolled to the tune of $100,000, we’re going to take the opportunity to share with the figure-skating world that we are London — just not that one.
Sorry. Continue reading
By Jason Menard
When it comes to trying to connect with their audiences, business spokespeople need to paraphrase the old (and somewhat overused) Las Vegas tag line: “Whatever happens in the board room stays in the board room.”
Too many people – and this condition is not the exclusive domain of business types – are afflicted with the belief that using big words makes one sound smarter. There are many insidious reasons for why this started: from the Bullshit Baffles Brains theory to the “We Don’t Want to Tell the Truth, So We’re Going to Spend 15 Minutes Filling the Air with Empty Words” but what’s now happened is that good, solid, hard-working people have contracted this disease. Continue reading
By Jason Menard
The rationale behind publishing a multi-coloured Oreo in support of gay pride is starkly black and white – it’s the right thing to do, despite the fact that there is little to no chance of positive benefit to the company’s bottom line.
An image of a rainbow-coloured Oreo appeared on the brand’s Facebook fan page on Monday. Since then, the page has been inundated with over 250,000 likes and over 45,000 comments. It’s a simple image with a simple message: “Proudly support love!” – and while the decision to publish it may be simple at its root, from a business point of view it’s much less black and white. Continue reading
By Jason Menard
What Would Jesus Tweet? If Facebook will not come to Muhammad, then would Muhammed log on to Facebook? And what is the role of religion on social networking?
For obvious reasons, this weekend I found an increase in religious commentary on both my Facebook timeline and Twitter feeds. From generalized well wishes to full-scale scripture-quoting, the Christians were out in full force.
But does social media represent the right forum for religious messaging — especially if you’re also using social networking as a business tool? Continue reading
The M-Dash by Jason Menard 