In my ongoing battle against death, decay and vagaries of aging, I’ve become entranced by all cosmetic claims that promise de-wrinkling, de-puffing, and de-like. I’m all for anything that will keep me from giving in and submitting myself and my vanity to the plastic surgeon’s art.

So, in my search as I’m wont to do, I started looking at lip stuff. Creams for right outside the lips, plumpers for my inner pout. I’ve read the reviews from women who have dared to go before. Then I came upon a truly brilliant Maybelline online campaign for its Lip Plumper XL lipstick. Why brilliant? Because it’s putting the proof of its claim right into the hands - and onto the lips - of its customers. Customers are invited to print out a chart and after buying the product to go ahead and compare their pucker pre- and post- plump.

So simple, so elegant and a great way to prove their point with your own plumped-up pucker. The best marketing is being able to experience the promise of the product with absolute proof. It’s the same thinking behind the oh-so-not-amusing-but-effective As Seen on TV ads. We watch cordless sweepers, dog trimmers, whatever, in action … showing us its wonders. We stare in glassy-eyed amazement and enthrall.

Or maybe it’s just me.

Rarely tho have I seen a cosmetics ad encourage their customers to do their own before/after with such confidence.

I haven’t tried it yet because I live in the semi-sticks and the only grocery store is remodeling and they’ve removed ALL THEIR COSMETICS until further notice. I hope to try it, though, before the upcoming Blogger Social next month. You’ll know me by my Angelina Jolie, petal pink, glossy, plumpy pout. Look for my follow-up post with my own test results for all to see.

If you’re of a certain age, I don’t have to tell you to hum the old Dr Pepper jingle in your head. You’re already doing it. (If you’re younger than dirt, go look it up on YouTube and then you can hum along with the rest of us babyboomer crones and geezers.)

In any case, yours truly - along with many good friends and respected colleagues - has been listed in the most recent post at:

The Top 100 Freelancer Blogs

Grab a cup of something caffeinated and start reviewing the mentions. You’ll find a wealth of useful resources. I’ll be checking out the photography listings myself since I’m working on a new client website and gotta find me some happy old people.

I’ll see you there!

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Just ask Jane Fonda. She inadvertently used a most vulgar term for a lady’s private parts in an interview with Meredith Vieira on the Today show yesterday.

Jane, who is starring in a production of The Vagina Monologues, was talking about her original reticence to join the play. Let’s watch, shall we? (Notice the immediate pained, tight expression on Vieira, noticeable in profile in the camera long shot.)

Wow, Jane. You go, girl. I love the offhand way she used it and the little aside that was attached to it.

So I’m thinking about words. Is hell a “bad word?” One of the kids at the school bus complained to me my son used the word “hell” and that it was a bad word, a cuss word. I replied, “Honey, hell is a place. The name of a place isn’t a bad word.”

Being Jewish, I don’t even believe in hell but why would hell even BE a cuss word anymore than Pittsburgh or Trenton? (Okay, maybe Trenton IS hell, but I digress.)

Many years ago in the pre-cable, pre-internet days, George Carlin wrote/performed a classic routine about The 7 Words You Couldn’t Say on Radio/TV. Yesterday, I think Jane just killed the list for good.

The power of words reside in the the power we invest in them. Not all words are appropriate everywhere all the time. Knowing were/when to use them with care and thought makes all the difference.

I’m not particularly fond of the ‘c-word’ - I think it sounds downright mean and ugly. (I think the p-word is so much more fun and girly.) Doesn’t mean I haven’t used it - and meant it - when the time was right.

But Jane was talking about vaginas. A word I don’t think my mother-in-law has ever said outloud. Ever. But it’s not a dirty word. It’s the right word. A play about women and their relationships to and with their sexuality? Vaginas, c-words, p-words - they all rate. (I generally don’t like to use sexual terms in posts because I get all sorts of unsavory email and search engine rankings afterwards.)

But maybe not over the morning’s cornflakes.

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But hey, what do the font choices of the candidate campaigns tell us about the candidates themselves and their public presentations?

Whether it’s a little or a lot, all of us make ultimate decisions not on the facts and figures - although we use this information to rationalize our choices - we base them on large part on how we feel about it. Prospects read our copy and make judgements on a gut level. They review the illustrations we use to highlight our message with the same gut-based thinking.

That’s why this article struck me as a wonderfully interesting and different perspective on the candidates and their campaigns. Originally published in the Boston Globe, read What font says ‘Change’? Type designers decode the presidential candidate

Do you agree or disagree on the analysis? Did you/have you made choices based on the ‘look’ of the campaign logo efforts?

And while you’re thinking about it, here’s a fun poll that matches your issues and the candidates (some now out of race) WITHOUT revealing the candidate upfront. I’ll tell you my choices are now out of the race. Both #1 and #2.

Mores the pity, too

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[tags] fonts, political campaign designs, presidential politics [/tags]

Take, for example, The Marx Brothers. Writers like Groucho better (with a slight nod to Chico) because he’s all about the masterful word play. Artists will probably like Harpo better because he’s all about the physical mime play. (Gummo and Zeppo make no impression at all.)

But as a copywriter, I’ve been known to say that the right offer to the right list written in lipstick on toilet paper will produce far better than then wrong offer to the wrong list brilliantly produced.

Okay, here’s a website version of my "lipstick on toilet paper" illustration. I found this on When Being Clever Beats the Hell out of Being SEO’d/Usable.

The site: Noone belongs here more than you. All substance, no style (well, not classic), clever and completely compelling.

It’s good to write the words.