Capitalism is OKAY.

(Article I wrote for the Los Angeles Times.) My mother, a dyed-in-the-wool Minnesota Democrat, is sitting across the breakfast table from me. She’s reading the paper and comes across an ad for the big after-Thanksgiving sale at The Mall of America. “How can people...

Have Heroes.

(This is an article I wrote for Communication Arts in, I think, 2002.) When I first got into this business back in 1978, I had heroes. In fact, I had a list of heroes. Their names were all written in the indexes of the 1977 and ’78 One Show annuals. I saw these...

Getting Off Promotional Drugs

(This is an article I wrote for ADWEEK back in 2002. Still feels true.) The similarity between the addiction to cocaine and the dependence on month-to-month retail promotions, is chilling. Similarity #1: Both addictions give short bursts of euphoria and a sense of...