social marketing & corporate responsibility (CSR) & business and human rights
It’s February and you know what that means – advertisers trying to sell us more stuff – cards, flowers, wine, gimmicks, experiences and the idea that we are lacking in some way if we don’t have a significant other or have and don’t wish to take part in Valentine’s Day spending.
Or can it? The saying ‘money can’t buy happiness’ isn’t always true…
If you live below the poverty line money will ensure you can buy yourself physical security and feel emotionally better due to the reduced stress that lack of money brings with it.
Disposable income can also be used to help others. Research suggests people who help others are happier than people who spent all of their money on themselves. Spare income allows us to donate to causes close to our hearts and leads to happiness.
Once we pass a certain threshold, namely $75,000US according to Economists Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton, we won’t be any happier when we earn more and upgrade existing and add more possessions to our own private empire.
The things that bring long-term satisfaction and contentment can’t be bought with money, on the contrary, instant gratification particularly can actually have the opposite effect. [Read more…]
Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy crap we don’t need.
Buy Nothing Day commenced in Canada in the early 90ties to protest consumerism*. The day is currently held in about 65 countries either on Black Friday (end November) or the day after. It offers a 24 hour detox from shopping as opposed to Black Friday which offers ‘the buy-everything-you-can-in-the-shortest-amount-of-time-whether-you-need-it-or-not’.
Happy 10th Anniversary Earth Hour!
Congratulations Earth Hour to one decade of persuading the world to turn the lights off for an evening or even the night. What commenced as a simple gimmick has turned into a world wide phenomenon stimulating debate about climate change and environmental issues.
Initially I viewed Earth Hour as a soft campaign making it easy and comfortable for people to indulge in a small gesture and feel good about themselves as they are ‘fighting’ climate change. [Read more…]
Some say that emphasising happiness actually makes us unhappy because we can’t be on a high all the time and might be putting too much pressure on ourselves. However, the definition of happiness is much broader than a particular feeling and relates to how content we are with our life.
“Happiness is about our lives as a whole: it includes the fluctuating feelings we experience everyday but also our overall satisfaction with life. It is influenced by our genes, upbringing and our external circumstances – such as our health, our work and our financial situation. But crucially it is also heavily influenced by our choices – our inner attitudes, how we approach our relationships, our personal values and our sense of purpose.” quoted from www.actionforhappiness.org
“Happiness is neither a frivolity nor a luxury. It is a deep-seated yearning shared by all members of the human family.” – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, 2014
World-wide, the single person household is growing rapidly in line with economic development and education. The more developed and educated, the higher the proportion of single person households…it is predicted that the lone person household will rise most of all households over the next 25 years and more than half of these households are females. And the reason is simply that people want to live an individualistic lifestyle when they can afford it.
If love is an embrace, a kiss, caring and feeling – a fondness or affection, why then has the annual celebration of love – St. Valentine’s Day become a consumer driven machine worth an estimated $18.9 billion USD that leaves even the most reasonable of spendthrifts feeling a little sinful (estimate of figures by About News – that’s huge!)
In the 1850’s Esther A. Howland began mass producing Valentine’s cards in the US, from the 18th century custom of exchanging handmade cards to loved ones on St. Valentine’s Day and it has steadily gained momentum to the excessive holiday it is today that people love to hate and retailers unashamedly relish.
St. Valentine’s Day wasn’t always linked with love, it wasn’t until Chaucer’s Love Birds that the custom of exchanging cards began.
It’s Mother’s Day again. We take the existence of modern day Mother’s Day for granted and it seems a great idea. Because mothers mostly put their children first Mother’s Day is designed to put mothers’ needs first for a change. It apparently is celebrated in more than 45 countries. Because, surprise, surprise, everybody has a mother! Hence – this day is relevant to all of us. Whether we want to remember our mothers or still have the opportunity to spend time or money on our mother or whether we are a mother – Mother’s Day is for all of us.
The modern day version of Mother’s Day originated in the USA and is just over 100 years old. Unfortunately and allegedly to the despair of the women who advocated for the day, it is has been largely commercialised.
As a child I loved Nikolaus Day on 6 December. We used to put our boots in front of the entrance door and the next morning they were filled with, what was for us at the time exotic nuts, mandarins, lovely apples and some chocolates. This tradition originated from Saint Nicholas – also called Nikolaos of Myra – a historic 4th-century saint and Greek Bishop of Myra in Lycia. Because of the many miracles attributed to him, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him.
Do people still commemorate Nikolaus in Germany these days? In the spirit of St Nikolaus, here is a list of Christmas gift suggestions by Oren Arnold entirely free:
To your enemy, forgiveness
To an opponent, tolerance.
To a friend, your heart.
To a customer, service.
To all, charity.
To every child, a good example.
To yourself, respect.
Happy Nikolaus!
PS: Check out this super dagy video of a typical Nikolaus song Nikolaus komm in unser Haus… and here is the text so you can sing along!
Nikolaus komm in unser Haus,
pack die großen Taschen aus.
Lustig, lustig, trallerallala!
Heut ist Nikolaus Abend da,
heut ist Nikolaus Abend da.
Stell das Pferdchen unter den Tisch
dass es Heu und Hafer frisst.
Lustig, lustig, trallerallala!
Heut ist Nikolaus Abend da,
heut ist Nikolaus Abend da.
Heu und Hafer frisst es nicht,
Zuckerplätzchen kriegt es nicht.
Lustig, lustig, trallerallala!
Heut ist Nikolaus Abend da,
heut ist Nikolaus Abend da.
