The Time to Show Cause, Business Table Manners, Bikes and Their Fans, Etc. takes

It stands to reason the holidays are a propitious time for cause-related marketing: (1) People are spending like drunken sailors and(2) people want to feel they're good-hearted souls. If you can give to the deserving poor while buying a tie for undeserving Uncle Lou, so much the better. A poll by Boston-based Cone confirms that cause-related selling is big this time of year. Cone found 58 percent of Americans saying they intend to buy a product for which a percentage of the purchase price goes to a good cause. Similarly, 51 percent plan to buy gifts from retailers who donate a slice of the revenue. One can only guess at how many people will carry through on these sentiments, but the poll did find 47 percent claiming to have done so in last year's holiday shopping.Thanks, but I won't have that fifth helping after all. 'Tis the season to be gluttonous, but some folks may hold back a bit after hearing of a study presented at an American Heart Association conference. Researchers found that a single unusually heavy meal "may act as a trigger for heart attack in much the same way as extreme physical exertion and outbursts of anger might—especially in someone who has heart disease." The study concluded that the two hours right after a heroic feed form the "hazard period" for this sort of coronary misadventure.It's the first ad we've seen all year that mentions God and photosynthesis. And considering that November is nearly over, we're pretty confident it'll be the last. Consumers of energy bars will appreciate that the list of chemical processes entailed in a Bumble Bar begins and ends with photosynthesis. As for God, the role of product inspector seems a comedown from that of Supreme Being. But even stalwart believers might feel the ad's reference falls under the old "any publicity is good publicity" rule. Cole & Weber of Seattle created the piece. In our increasingly ill-mannered world, is the business lunch an island of politesse? So we can infer from an online poll in which CNN.com posed the query: How confident do you feel about your table manners at a business meal? The tally at press time had 69 percent of the participants saying, "No problem. Care for cream and sugar?" Twenty-six percent said, "Depends on the event, the people and the place." A mere5 percent responded, "I'm pretty shaky. Are you going to eat that pickle?" Of course, people who fret about committing a horrific faux pas could avoid the problem by calling in sick on the day of a luncheon conclave. In another CNN.com poll, people were asked whether they've ever called in sick when they weren't actually ill. About half brazenly said they've done so and are "proud of it," while one-third said they've never done this.It's not often an ad counsels owners of a bike to "Steer clear of leaf blowers, subway grates and people with hay fever." But if the Schwinn in question is ultra-light—a desirable characteristic in a vehicle whose engine is you—the warning is a potent enticement. If it doesn't sell bikes, it'd be a good ad for fans. Crispin Porter Bogusky of Miami is the agency.If "physical fitness" isn't the phrase that leaps to mind when you hear a Metallica song, it might simply mean you're not attuned to the folkways of teenage boys. An online poll by MH-18 asked the lads to name the band whose music they most like to hear while working out. Metallica (13 percent) and Limp Bizkit (10 percent) were the only ones polling in double digits. Kid Rock, Papa Roach and Slipknot each got 8 percent.While closely divided on the candidates, voters rejected the presidential campaigns' commercials by a landslide. A poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found 66 percentdamning the spots as "not helpful"; 29 percent said the spots were helpful. You can't say the comic-book biz doesn't stick to its guns in the face of criticism about violent imagery. The ad shown here (by Waldbillig & Besteman of Madison, Wisc.) touts the online-retail system of Westfield Comics, a large dealer in such literature.

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The Time to Show Cause, Business Table Manners, Bikes and Their Fans, Etc. takes

Mark Dolliver

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Mark Dolliver