One of The Best Commercial of All Time?

In a world where everything is accessible to everyone from a click of a button, it is becoming increasingly difficult for marketeers to come up with ways to keep the attention of the viewer long enough to spread their message.
For an ad to be effective, it needs to have an element of surprise followed by something that will make the viewer happy and then, somehow, associate that happiness with the brand.

One of the best ad I've seen that does this is the Pedigree Dentastix commercial. It shocks the viewer, it makes them happy and it associates the brand with that happiness.

Marketing is happiness. What commercial made you happy?

Can Going to The Gym Fight Depression?

Can the Gym help fight off depression? Is lifting weights & doing cardio all it takes to keep depression at bay?

"It is common to hear people say, “I just want to be happy.” And who does not? It’s certainly much better to be happy than sad. Good times are better to experience than bad. But pursuing happy is a little off the mark. It is like trying to grab smoke. Whenever we make happiness our goal, we set ourselves for a futile chase. First, we do something that we think will make us happy. Then, once that pleasure is through, we move on to the next. Usually, the pleasures have to escalate to continue to satisfy, and we find ourselves in an endless climb. From pleasure to pleasure we go, never really finding happiness."
-Chris Brady

Shaolin Monks believe that the mastery of the mind comes from the mastery of the body through physical exercises, or working through pains, as well as resisting temptations.

I certainly have experienced mood benefits from working out but I do not believe that this is all it takes to "cure" depression. (By the way, if you are depressed, seek professional advice.) In order to fight my daemons, I need a good diet/exercise to be healthy, good relationships to share life with, spirituality/religion/meditation in order to find inner peace and financial security (for obvious reasons).

Should the Government Fund Artists?

I recently came across and article that said the government would increase funds for emerging artists. Have we stopped to ask if artists should be government funded in the first place?

The reality is that we are swimming in art. Everywhere we look, there's a car, a billboard or an item that was designed by an artist. This stiff competition is what makes it difficult for new, emerging, artists to make a name for themselves.

The free market work as follow: Provide value and you shall get paid. If an artist is not able to live off of his work, then he is not able to produce anything that others find valuable. Why should they receive any compensation? Are there any other field of work where someone gets government compensation for not providing value?
Compensation, with no value provided, sounds like employment insurance to me.

"It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life."
-Captain Jean Luc Picard

Everyone is an artist to some extend. This post is not meant to discourage but to challenge the artist. Do what ever it takes to make it even if you have to work some menial job in the process. Eventually, maybe, people will understand your art and see the value in it.